Telecom Performance

What to measure. Traditional metrics vs protocol-era metrics.

Performance Categories

Category	What It Measures	Traditional	Protocol-Era
Network	Coverage and quality	Self-reported	Cryptographically verified
Financial	Return on investment	ARPU, EBITDA	Token yields, burn rate
Operational	Efficiency	Cost per GB	Protocol automation %
Community	Flourishing	N/A	Operator distribution, governance

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Network Metrics

Coverage

Metric	Traditional	Protocol	Why Better
Coverage area	Self-reported km²	Proof of Coverage attestations	Verifiable
Coverage density	Towers per region	Hotspots per km²	Granular
Coverage gaps	Survey-based	Real-time oracle	Current

Quality

Metric	Traditional	Protocol	Why Better
Signal strength	Periodic drive tests	Continuous attestation	Real-time
Latency	SLA contractual	On-chain measurements	Transparent
Uptime	Self-reported	Verified availability proofs	Trustless

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Financial Metrics

Traditional Carrier

Metric	Benchmark	What It Shows
ARPU	$40-60/mo (developed)	Revenue per subscriber
EBITDA margin	30-40%	Operating profitability
Churn	1-2%/mo	Customer retention
Capex/revenue	15-20%	Infrastructure investment

DePIN Protocol

Metric	Benchmark	What It Shows
Token yield	Variable	Operator return on deployment
Data credit burn	Growing = healthy	Real network usage
Burn/issuance ratio	>1 = deflationary	Token sustainability
Hotspot ROI	Months-years	Operator economics

Transformation

Traditional	Protocol-Era	Shift
ARPU	Data credit burn per user	Real usage, not plan pricing
EBITDA margin	Protocol revenue share	Transparent distribution
Capex/revenue	Community deployment rate	Distributed investment
Churn	Token holder retention	Ownership creates loyalty

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Operational Metrics

Metric	Traditional	Protocol	Improvement
Settlement time	30-90 days	Instant	99%+ faster
Dispute rate	2-5% of transactions	Near zero	Cryptographic proof
Customer acquisition	$300-500	Token incentives	50%+ lower
Network operations	NOC + field teams	Protocol automation	80%+ reduction

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Community Metrics (Flourishing)

New metrics for community-owned networks:

Metric	What It Measures	Target
Operator count	Participation breadth	Growing
Gini coefficient	Reward distribution equity	<0.5 (less concentrated)
Governance participation	Token holder engagement	>10% voting
Geographic spread	Coverage equity	Expanding to underserved
Operator retention	Long-term commitment	>80% year-over-year

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Opportunity Assessment

Scoring Dimensions

Dimension	Weight	Telecom Score	Evidence
Market Attractiveness	20%	7.5	$1.98T TAM
Technology Disruption	20%	7.0	Late adoption phase
VVFL Alignment	25%	7.0	Loop works, AI gap
Competitive Position	20%	6.5	First-mover, sustainability TBD
Timing Risk	15%	6.0	Regulatory uncertainty

Aggregate: 6.85/10 — Monitor Closely

Opportunity Matrix

Opportunity	Score	Timing	Key Risk
DePIN IoT coverage	7.5	Now	Demand < supply
DePIN mobile	7.0	Now	Spectrum, regulation
Routing AI (MEV)	8.0	1-2 years	No proven player
Settlement layer	6.5	2-3 years	Incumbent resistance
MVNO + crypto	7.5	Now	Execution complexity

Watch Signals

Signal	Bullish	Bearish
Helium mobile growth	>500K subs	Plateaus
Data credit burn	Exceeds issuance	Issuance dominates
Regulatory	CBRS expansion	Spectrum restrictions
Carrier partnerships	More AT&T-like deals	Carrier hostility
AI routing	Breakout protocol	No traction

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Principles → Performance Mapping

Principle	What to Measure
Connectivity compounds	Node count, coverage area, network value
Infrastructure is physical	Deployment rate, hardware utilization
Routing is optimization	Routing efficiency, arbitrage captured
Trust has costs	Settlement time, dispute rate
Communities need coverage	Operator earnings, geographic equity

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Context

• Principles — What truths guide measurement
• Players — Who's measured
• Performance — General performance principles
• Opportunity Scoring — Cross-industry methodology