Nascent next-gen technologies are being fused in a new partnership between recently established Helium Mobile and Solana Mobile, a subsidiary of blockchain company Solana Labs.

The collaboration will enable Solana Mobile’s new Saga phones – a flagship Android mobile phone for Web3 – purchased in the United States to get a free 30-day subscription to Helium mobile [including unlimited voice and text] tapping into the Helium 5G network and partnered 5G networks – including T-Mobile's.

The phones are expected to ship in early 2023, as the Helium Mobile Network will launch in the same timeframe.

Helium is a decentralized wireless network that allows low-power smart devices (miners) to send and receive data to the internet. The miners earn HNT tokens for providing network coverage and relaying data to the internet using hardware called a hotspot.

Nova Labs recently partnered with T-Mobile to launch Helium Mobile, a  coverage service building off of Helium’s decentralized and distributed IoT and 5G networks.

The mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) enables Helium Mobile users to access both T-Mobile and local Helium 5G networks created by its users. Unlike traditional MVNOs, Helium’s network will add to T-Mobile’s existing network rather than functioning on top of it.

According to the recent release on its partnership with, the Helium Mobile network has expanded to 6,300 active small cells, with 1,300 cells added across the U.S. in the last 30 days.

Saga phones are currently available for a $100 dollar deposit toward the anticipated $1,000 cost. According to the release, the phones will be prioritized for developers to test the Solana Mobile Stack and Saga. To connect to the Helium network, the Helium Mobile membership starts at $5 per month. The phones will also be compatible with all major carriers in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and EU.

As a subscriber connects to the 5G network, the owners of the hotspots are rewarded with crypto-based MOBILE tokens for providing coverage. While the network is nascent, subscribers can also opt-in for crypto-based token rewards for sharing data about coverage quality and helping identify Helium dead spots.

“As I walk around, my phone will anonymously transmit statistics about the locations where, for example, the latency is very high, or where maybe there’s not enough bandwidth on the network, or where maybe the handover between the T-Mobile network and our network took too long or broke the sessions,” Nova Lab’s GM of Wireless Boris Renski told SDxCentral.

Solana Mobile Business and Operations Lead Emmett Hollyer stated in the release, "The Helium Mobile approach to disrupting the mobile carrier landscape aligns really well with Solana Mobile’s view of overdue innovation in the mobile ecosystem.”