Bloxtel Puts Private 5G Cell Towers on Blockchain
Bloxtel is revolutionizing the way private 5G cell towers are managed and funded by putting them on the blockchain. The startup's AP 201 access point, which was showcased at the Avalanche Summit in New York, allows a landlord or venue owner to fund and earn from the equipment, not just telecom giants.
According to Bloxtel, each AP 201 is registered as its own address on the blockchain, while subscriber credentials that connect to it are minted as dSIM tokens. This means that a community could fund a cell and earn against the traffic it carries, making it a big claim for telecom infrastructure.
The hardware itself comes from Bloxtel's partnership with Askey Computer Corp., an ASUS subsidiary, which has customized the SCU5000 small-cell platform around Bloxtel's Open6GC core. The AP 201 puts the radio, 3GPP Release 17 standalone 5G core, and operations layer into one passively cooled enclosure.
Bloxtel's co-founders, Izzo Wane and Karsten Ohme, have a mix of experience from working at AT&T, Simless, T-Systems, and Deutsche Telekom. The product reflects this mix, combining carrier plumbing with cryptographic identity.