📄White Paper

A Model for People-owned Internet Infrastructures for a more connected world.

Abstract

A decentralized version of how Internet access is distributed today would allow people to achieve digital freedom, economic independence, and community development. Several problems exist to achieve a fully decentralized Internet, like Ubiquitous access, decentralized infrastructure ownership, and minimum bandwidth standards. Collaboration and distributed ownership are essential to solving this, allowing anyone to own a piece of a primary service used by millions worldwide and continue to grow as software and technology evolve. We propose an alternative to the current centralized system federating small players and onboarding entrepreneurs and community leaders to help close the digital gap while ensuring complete decentralization of power over the network. Together, we will disrupt the status quo with lower prices, faster deployments, and a world-class user experience. The network’s revenue will be entirely transparent, balancing earnings across the parties involved to power the future of the Internet.

Introduction

Imagine a world where the power to connect digitally doesn't rest in the hands of a few conglomerates but is dispersed among the many. A world where anyone, from anywhere, can contribute to the global internet infrastructure, not just as a consumer but as a provider. This is the world that Wayru is actively building.

Born out of the urgency highlighted by the global pandemic and recognizing the imperative need for reliable, extensive, and affordable connectivity, Wayru emerged as a unique solution that seeks to democratize the digital landscape, especially in underserved regions like Latin America.

By decentralizing internet access, Wayru brings power to the people. Enabling anyone to become a network operator, it uses everyday devices to share WiFi connectivity, forming a vast, interconnected web of data transmission points. It's not just about sharing WiFi; it's about building expansive wireless broadband networks that can envelop entire villages or towns, bringing the digital world to previously disconnected people.

The secret sauce? A blend of advanced yet affordable technology and a strong ethos of community participation. Using proprietary firmware compatible with several commercial devices, Wayru liberates its users from hardware constraints. The result is a robust infrastructure that costs only a fraction of what traditional models would demand.

The magic doesn't stop there. Wayru's heart beats with the rhythm of blockchain technology, creating a network built on trust, security, and transparency. Participation isn't just encouraged—it's rewarded. Participants earn the Wayru Token ($WAYRU), a cornerstone of the Wayru ecosystem, for sharing their connectivity, stimulating active involvement, and fostering network growth.

But beyond the tech and tokens, Wayru is a movement for digital inclusivity. It's about ensuring everyone can access the internet, no matter where they are. It's about not just bridging the digital divide but obliterating it. Wayru's vision is more than just universal internet access; it's about championing a future where digital freedom is a reality.

This is Wayru – a revolutionary approach to internet connectivity that disrupts the status quo and creates an equitable, rewarding environment. The goal is to provide lower prices, faster deployments, and the opportunity to participate in a transparent network powered by the Wayru Token ($WAYRU). Join us as we rewrite the rules of digital connectivity, one connection at a time.

The Current System Sucks

The Global Telecom Market is valued at nearly 2 trillion dollars and is expected to grow to 3 trillion by 2030. This massive market is fueled by rapid advancements in internet businesses and services and the emergence of numerous personal and business internet applications that have revolutionized how we think, work, and live.

By 2030, the global population will be close to 9 billion, and the demand for communication will stretch beyond our planet. It's predicted that more devices will be connected to WiFi than there have ever been people. Today's 4 billion internet users are set to increase by 50% over the next decade. However, over 3.7 billion people worldwide still lack reliable internet access, and nearly 400 million are in Latin America alone.

The rising demand for broadband internet access, coupled with continued investment in internet infrastructure, has driven the industry forward and shows no sign of stopping. Traditional Telcos and ISPs, usually confined to specific regions, struggle to provide convenient services for the burgeoning generation of digital nomads.

Internet users are exasperated by the constant need to hunt for WiFi passwords, fill out forms in every commercial space, and deal with unknown security or payment options. Add to that the frustration of slow speeds and restrictive data caps, and it's clear that this model is inefficient, time-consuming, and expensive.

As mobile broadband service demand surges, wireless networks are under pressure to expand their capacities significantly. This necessitates network strategies to manage the capital expenditures required to meet this demand.

One effective method is offloading certain segments of mobile traffic onto WiFi networks, connected by fixed broadband access, thereby reusing the spectrum more efficiently.

However, according to an FCC report, approximately 19 million Americans – ~ 6% of the population – still lack access to fixed broadband service at threshold speeds. The situation is even more dire in rural and tribal areas, where nearly one-fourth and one-third of the population, respectively, lack access.

In 2011, the UN declared internet access a human right. Yet, over a decade later, billions remain without reliable internet access. Legacy providers and big tech companies have promised to get everyone online, but they have fallen short. The digital divide – the gap between those with internet access and those without – is more like a chasm within and between countries.

Internet users are subjected to low speeds, high prices with long-term contracts that create debt, and poor availability. In developing countries, only about 35% of the population has access to the Internet, compared to about 80% in advanced economies. Average broadband speeds in emerging countries are a mere 5mbps. We can and should do far better. Also, the poorer you are, the less available broadband you get.

The traditional model of providing reliable access to a community is expensive, time-consuming, and heavily regulated. Like most ISPs worldwide, centralized models can't scale to meet the growing demands.

This is where Wayru comes in – a revolutionary approach to internet connectivity that disrupts the status quo and creates an equitable, rewarding environment.

The Wayru Network

Wayru Network is a Decentralized Wireless Network that provides affordable and reliable internet access to everyone, everywhere. We use blockchain technology to provide secure, seamless, and accessible decentralized connectivity.

The Wayru Network is a striking example of decentralized technologies' potential to transcend traditional barriers. We harness the untapped potential of everyday WiFi devices, enabling the creation of a global network that weaves a tapestry of connectivity across towns, cities, and countries. Our vision is to span continents and eventually grow bigger than just WiFi.

Our current focus lies on commercially available devices, while seemingly modest, is a conscious choice, allowing us to tap into the vast pool of existing devices and making participation as accessible as possible. However, our ambitions do not stop here. We continuously strive to widen our scope and extend compatibility to a broader range of proprietary and third-party devices in the future, including technologies like WiFi, IoT, and 4G/5G, fueled by the underlying objective of including as many individuals in our journey toward democratizing internet access.

Wayru prioritizes managing and maintaining our network's health. To this end, firmware updates—a critical component in ensuring the seamless operation of our network—are handled through over-the-air distribution. This process involves delivering updates directly to the participating devices within the network, either automatically or manually, based on the user's preference. Such an approach ensures all hotspots within the network are running the most current software, bolstering the network's security and performance while providing an optimal user experience.

When it comes to facilitating connectivity, Wayru isn't confined to a single solution to be used as the network backhaul. We can leverage various technologies, including ADSL, satellite, and fiber for data transmission, along with a spectrum of radio technologies for wireless communication. The selection of these technologies is not arbitrary; instead, we consider each situation's unique characteristics, accounting for the specific geographic and infrastructural realities of the areas we serve. Such a bespoke approach enables us to deliver users a high-speed, low-latency internet experience while ensuring maximum coverage.

Beyond connectivity, our network has robust security structures in place, ensuring the privacy and safety of users. Each user connected to the network does so through an individual tunnel, shielding them from potential security threats. Furthermore, to join the Wayru Network, users and hotspot operators must have a verified account, providing an additional layer of security against potential malicious actors.

Thus, the Wayru Network is more than just a collection of hotspots—it's a vision of an interconnected world brought to life through the principles of decentralization, driven by community participation, and underpinned by cutting-edge technology.

The Wayru Token ($WAYRU)

The Wayru Token ($WAYRU) is a utility token that forms the backbone of the Wayru ecosystem. It is designed to foster active community participation within the network and serves as the primary instrument for all transactions and interactions on the Wayru platform.

The $WAYRU token isn't just another digital asset; it's the key to unlocking access to the Wayru platform and its suite of services. While the token does not represent units of Internet data like MBs or GBs, it is the exclusive medium of exchange that enables users to access the network's resources.

When you possess $WAYRU tokens, you have a decentralized, portable, and tradable means of gaining access to the Wayru Network. This turns the traditional concept of Internet service on its head, where instead of being a service you purchase from a provider, Internet access becomes a commodity that you can earn, which you can freely trade and use whenever and wherever you need, or use $WAYRU tokens to unlock access on the Wayru Network, enabling you to engage with its features wherever and whenever you need.

Upon the Network's launch on MainNet, only 10 billion $WAYRU tokens will ever be minted to represent the potential energy that fuels the network's growth and expansion. Tokens will only be rewarded in alignment with the network's usage and development, ensuring a fair and balanced token distribution.

Earning $WAYRU tokens correlates directly with your level of involvement and contribution to the Wayru Network. For example, hotspot operators can earn $WAYRU tokens by maintaining efficient and active hotspots, thus extending the network's reach and capability. However, it's important to clarify that $WAYRU tokens do not confer governance rights, ownership, or decision-making within the Wayru network, Wayru Inc., The Wayru Foundation, or any of its affiliates.

The allocation of $WAYRU tokens has been carefully orchestrated to guarantee a fair distribution that supports the long-term viability of the Wayru ecosystem. This innovative model paves the way for democratized Internet access, aligning with Wayru's mission to bridge the digital divide and cultivate a more interconnected world.

For more information, read the Token Paper here.

The Internet-Sharing Economic Model

Empowering communities is at the heart of Wayru's approach to internet connectivity. Our model rests on a core principle: community members own the means of delivering internet access to each other and profit from it. This principle is the cornerstone of our vision for democratization—shared costs and profits. In other words, the community bears the cost and effort of operating as its own ISP but also earns the profit from this communal utility.

Imagine a system where, instead of paying corporate ISPs, you pay your neighbor for internet access. Money stays within the community, and as a result, internet access becomes significantly cheaper. This community-centric approach extends beyond WiFi sharing, establishing wireless broadband connectivity for entire towns or villages.

At Wayru, we are revolutionizing the Internet industry by introducing a transformative sharing economy model that decentralizes the traditional structure of Internet service provision. This model fundamentally disrupts the conventional paradigm, in which significant operational cost constraints burden centralized Internet Service Providers.

In our model, we redistribute the responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the internet network amongst a diverse array of stakeholders. Entrepreneurs, local businesses, and community groups become pivotal players, dramatically slashing the operational costs of running large-scale Internet networks. This distributed responsibility creates a dynamic environment where nodes on the network become decentralized, fostering rapid growth and efficient allocation of resources.

Beyond reducing operational costs, our model presents a highly scalable approach to deployment. Traditional reliance on a centralized network operator to gauge the capacity and demand requirements of the network is replaced with a more democratic, demand-driven approach. Growth and expansion of the network are spurred on by the very communities that crave access, aligning growth with real-world needs.

Community groups, businesses, and individuals morph into Network and/or Hotspot Operators. By offering coverage in their respective areas, they serve their communities and earn a share in the internet economy. They gain financially from providing much-needed coverage, further motivating participation, and creating a virtuous cycle of growth and reward.

Central to our sharing economy model is a system of incentives designed to encourage active participation. The Wayru Token, or $WAYRU token, embodies this system. This utility token allows network participants to deliver a service on the network and receive proportional rewards. It's more than a digital token; it's a medium for connectivity, a facilitator of services, and an incentive for active engagement.

Incentives are particularly important in inspiring Hotspot Operators to provide Internet access in underserved areas. These rewards are directly proportional to network usage, promoting active engagement. Hotspot Operators also have the opportunity to provide additional capacity in regions that already have service and, therefore, stand to earn even more rewards. This dynamic system of incentives flexibly responds to users' needs, accommodating a range of tolerance levels for service quality, particularly in remote areas with little to no connectivity.

Node Tiering System

The Wayru Network incentivizes sharing high-quality internet connectivity by implementing a Node Tiering System. This system grades nodes based on four key metrics: Heartbeat, Radio Uptime, Average Bandwidth, and Mean Opinion Score. These metrics are crucial for maintaining a robust and high-performing network.

Uptime refers to the time a node is operational and available to users. It is typically expressed as a percentage of the total possible operational time. For example, if a node is operational for 99.5% of the time over a given period, it means it was down or unavailable for only 0.5% of that period. High uptime is desirable in a network because it indicates reliability and availability. Nodes with high uptime can serve users more consistently, leading to a better user experience.

Bandwidth is the maximum rate of data transfer across a given path. In the context of internet connections, it is typically measured in megabits per second (Mbps). Higher bandwidth allows more data to be transmitted quickly, contributing to faster loading times and smoother streaming. For instance, a node with a bandwidth of 500 Mbps can transmit data more quickly than a node with a bandwidth of 50 Mbps, resulting in a better user experience.

Mean Opinion Score (MOS) is an industry-standard method for measuring the overall quality of the internet service, including factors such as latency, jitter, and packet loss. It typically ranges from 1 (worst) to 5 (best). The term "Mean Opinion Score" is used in telecommunication and networking to measure the quality of experience (QoE). This measurement is typically used for things like voice over IP (VoIP) or video streaming quality, where users or algorithms rate the quality of the service on a scale.

By implementing a tiering system based on quality metrics, the Wayru Network encourages node operators to maintain high-quality connections, contributing to a better and more reliable decentralized internet for all users.

Use of Blockchain

We propose the use of blockchain as the means to operate this sharing economy. Several factors are the reason why we use Blockchain, which is described below:

• Transparency: The telecommunications industry has several significant flaws that result in inefficiency. Our solution records key information and makes this transparent and easily accessible with blockchain technology, improving the ability to manage the network and enabling a self-healing network to function.

• Privacy: One of The Contracts for the Web principles is to respect and protect people’s fundamental online privacy and data rights. This has been highlighted as an issue within the telecommunications industry as network operators are looking for ways to create new revenue streams. By utilizing blockchain in our technology stack, we are making privacy a fundamental feature for users. User data is protected through public/private key infrastructure, as their metadata will be secured throughout the network, allowing synchronization between the different devices owned by the user.

• Immutability: According to a report, one of the most damaging causes of fraud in the telecommunication industry is the lack of inter-carrier trust. Introducing the blockchain to the equation and bringing a trustless, immutable solution to the provision of services enables trust between all parties and reduces and potentially prevents fraud. This brings cost savings and reductions to the operation and can be passed on to the end-users.

• Faster Settlement: To operate an efficient sharing economy, the solution that has a fast settlement time will rapidly build trust with users as they no longer rely on bureaucratic processes or inefficient banking services to deliver the rewards for operating the network. In conjunction with the immutability described previously, this builds trust with the users as they can see the immediate benefit of operating the nodes on the network. This encourages more rapid adoption and growth of the network as users begin to self-promote and refer the solution to others.

• Security: Vulnerabilities in telecom protocols have been known for many years. Due to its transparency, immutability, and privacy features, blockchain has been identified as a way to overturn the cyber security paradigm.

Blockchain technology is a fundamental component that defines the Wayru network’s operation and character. By weaving transparency, privacy, immutability, fast settlement, and security into the fabric of our infrastructure, we ensure that our network not only offers a practical alternative for internet connectivity but also embodies the principles of a decentralized and equitable digital age. This reflects our commitment to not just bridge the digital divide but to do so in a manner that prioritizes the individual user's rights, privacy, and empowerment. By leveraging blockchain's unique strengths, we strive to provide a network by the people, for the people, and owned by the people.

Security, Privacy, and Compliance

In the digital age, security, and privacy are no longer luxuries but necessities. At Wayru, we understand the importance of these principles and have made them fundamental pillars of our network's design. Ensuring the safety and privacy of our users isn't just a priority; it's a promise.

Our network architecture incorporates robust security measures to protect users and maintain the network's integrity. Each user on the Wayru network is sheathed in their secure tunnel, a protective cocoon that safeguards their digital footprint. This individualized tunnel system isn't just a barrier against potential intruders; it's a fortress against network hacking attempts. It shields each user's connection, making it extremely challenging for malicious actors to infiltrate neighboring connections. This fortification doesn't just enhance the user's security—it amplifies the overall network's resilience.

However, our security measures extend beyond individual user protection. Every user and hotspot operator participating in the Wayru network is mandated to have a verified account. This requirement for account verification isn't just a security protocol; it's a shield against the infiltration of harmful entities. By insisting on account verification, we deter potential exploitation of our network, preserving the safety and security of our user community.

Privacy and security are crucial, but they represent only two facets of our commitment to the community. The third pillar of our community-oriented approach is compliance. As Wayru expands its network across borders and into new regions, our commitment to abiding by local regulations remains steadfast. We aren't just growing a network—we're forging partnerships with local authorities, proactively working to ensure our operations align with all relevant telecommunications and internet service regulations in each region we serve.

At Wayru, we aren't just committed to compliance as a legal necessity—we view it as an ethical responsibility. Ensuring that our operations are legal and ethical is a key component of our dedication to the community. Our proactive compliance strategy reinforces this commitment and underscores our pledge to responsible operations.

At the heart of Wayru's mission is a deep respect for our users—their rights, security, and trust. Our commitment to robust security measures, user privacy, and diligent compliance underlines this respect, driving us to create an ecosystem where every user can confidently and confidently navigate the digital world.

Conclusion

Not enough people have access to affordable broadband Internet service, and Wayru’s mission is to fix that. Our goal is to provide access to every citizen on Earth with the fastest, cheapest, and most reliable Internet service ever. Legacy providers have solutions that have taken decades to implement, and the technologies used are becoming obsolete before even being available to everyone. Such solutions are hard to fix and impossible to relocate, making them unscalable and unadaptable.

We propose a new kind of Internet service designed for future generations and built to evolve to solve the problem of creating a sustainable and affordable network to reach people currently facing a digital divide. We created a platform using blockchain and smart contracts to build a more flexible and cost-effective system for delivering connectivity in places that are not connected.

Wayru, in essence, signifies a radical transformation in how we perceive, utilize, and access the internet. Capitalizing on the immense potential of blockchain technology, the spirit of community participation, and the robustness of decentralized networks, Wayru is crafting a whole new world of internet connectivity. A world where access to the internet is democratized, participation is rewarded, and a global community is united by a shared aspiration of worldwide connectivity.

The use of blockchain provides transparency for a sharing economy to be trusted. The sharing economy reduces network operational and maintenance costs, ultimately connecting people to the Internet using a more affordable solution.

Though in its early stages, our journey is dictated by a clear, resolute vision. Every new user joining our network, every new hotspot operator contributing their resources, and every new partner backing our mission moves us one stride closer to our overarching goal: a world of ubiquitous, affordable, and equitable internet access for all. We extend an open invitation for you to partake in this groundbreaking endeavor and take your part in the Wayru journey.

Wayru is not just another project or platform; it is a movement. It's a beacon of change towards a more connected world, breaking free from the confines and limitations of traditional internet service models. We're creating a network that's defined by its users, fueled by shared resources, and geared towards the collective benefit of all its participants.

In our pursuit of reshaping the future of internet connectivity, we're employing innovative technology, fostering a dynamic community, and creating an environment where the symbiotic relationship between users and the network can flourish. We're committed to providing internet access and developing a platform that facilitates digital literacy, promotes online safety, and supports users' digital empowerment.

As we continue to evolve, we focus on ensuring network accessibility and affordability while enhancing user experience and network stability. We're always looking to enhance the range of devices compatible with our network, broaden our geographical reach, and diversify our offerings to cater to users' varying needs globally.

Your role is paramount in this endeavor. As users, operators, partners, and advocates of Wayru, you form the foundation for this revolutionary network. By sharing your internet access, engaging with our platform, and spreading the word about Wayru, you help us make the dream of global internet access a tangible reality.

The Internet has changed the world more than anything else in mankind's history, and providing access to everyone can bring massive collective changes that are very hard to predict.

Blockchain will liberate and empower people, especially the underprivileged, who corrupt governments or institutions suppress. We are onboarding the unconnected to that vision.

So, join us on this exhilarating journey as we redefine the boundaries of internet connectivity, one hotspot at a time, one community at a time. Let's build the future of the Internet - for the people, by the people. Wayru, your network, your way.

We believe that what you give comes back to you.

Let’s connect the world.