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Xnet, a Solana-based project that builds a decentralized network of Wi-Fi hotspots, works together with the American telecom giant AT&T. The cooperation will enable AT&T to load mobile data traffic to the XNet network, the team told Lightspeed exclusively.
Xnet sells Wi-Fi hotspots that can implement companies and public spaces in exchange for XNet token rewards. Together, the Patchwork of Hotspots forms a distributed wireless network. XNet works together with Cell Carriers to load mobile data to its hotspots where available, whereby the congestion of the network is relaxed and the coverage improves – while the cell carriers pay Xnet for the data.
Under the agreement with AT&T, which has been live since September 2024, AT&T wireless customers connect to the Wi-Fi network of Xnet where available. AT&T pays Xnet in dollars for data use and Xnet passes on to his junction operators.
According to a Dune dashboard, XNet currently has 688 active nodes and around 9 million users are connected via the Wi-Fi Offloading network. The transfer between the coverage of AT&T and the WiFi of Xnet is seamless, and most users have no idea that it is happening, said co-founder of Xnet Richard Devaul. He added that bootstrapping would have been difficult for a company like Xnet without a token.