The reason people are skeptical about its long-term longevity is that the vast majority of the income of the project is coming from the sale of hotspots, rather than from paying customers [1]. This means pricing for users is heavily subsidized by hotspot revenues right now. Eventually, the hotspot market will be saturated and prices will have to come up to keep the project afloat; it remains to be seen how competitive the pricing will be at that point.
PS: Saying LORA is "ubiquitous" in the US oversells it quite a bit. It is quite available in cities but most rural areas are completely devoid of coverage, see [2].
Oh boy, where to start with all the problems in this post.
* you can buy helium hotspots for $100 now, on par with other lora gateways
* " vast majority of the income of the project" is vague and incorrect. The hotspot OEMs (of which there are 50+) receive sales revenue, not "the project".
* You're referencing a Senet chart, which is actually a roaming partner on Helium. This isn't actually a helium coverage map.
I will correct myself on the coverage, about 98% of Americans are covered, not 98% of land in America. Oops. America is a big place.
PS: Saying LORA is "ubiquitous" in the US oversells it quite a bit. It is quite available in cities but most rural areas are completely devoid of coverage, see [2].
[1] https://cointelegraph.com/news/critique-on-helium-s-6-5k-mon...
[2] https://scwcontent.affino.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/031/Sen...