Does this actually solve the network hole problem though? Just because Amazon devices have this capability doesn't mean folks in rural areas have Amazon devices. Perhaps thats not the point of this article.
Check out Helium it’s a proof of coverage crypto currency. The “mining” is proof of coverage. Believe it operates in the 900Mhz ISM band. Something like this could probably solve the hole problem because it incentivizes people to run access points were there isn’t coverage
I find Althea [1] a lot more interesting than Helium, where their crypto is used basically as an incentive model for bandwidth, with no proprietary hardware or software in the mix.
https://www.helium.com/