Benefit From India’s Broadband Revolution With Dabba

Transforming India’s Internet through Lasers and DePIN
With the world’s largest population, a median age of 28, and 41 cities with over 1M inhabitants, India’s demand for reliable high-speed internet is surging rapidly.
Dabba is building an innovative suite of products and services to help accelerate India’s access to broadband connectivity. Thanks to its DePIN model, anybody, anywhere, can participate in the Dabba Network and earn rewards for their remote contribution.
This is a DePIN that has the demand side locked.
Dabba’s History and Vision
First of all, let’s start with a quick distinction. Dabba Inc. is the company building physical products and solutions for the Dabba Network, a decentralized network built on Solana. Dabba Inc. was founded by Karam Lakshman and Shubhendu Sharma in 2017 and has been an Indian internet service provider (ISP) for the past 7 years.

Before Dabba, the two business partners had been working together on software logistic solutions for high-value transportation. The team often met at a local tea stall where poor internet connectivity proved difficult for their meetings, so they offered to install an access point. The addition to the tea stall’s infrastructure was an instant hit, and it wasn’t long before others wanted their stalls upgraded too.
Karam and Shubhendu knew they were onto something. They began building out a large public WiFi network, gathering the attention of Y Combinator and Google along the way. By now they’ve built one of the largest public WiFi networks in India.
The demand for WiFi is clearly present, but the current utility on offer is nothing in comparison to India’s mobile infrastructure. With a combined total of over 850M 4G and 5G subscribers, India has one of the highest numbers of data consumers, coupled with some of the lowest prices. Demand for data is increasing every year and networks cannot keep up with the demand. Hundreds of millions of Indians still lack any sort of internet connectivity.
The Dabba Network is purposefully designed to meet this growing demand using innovative communication technology and a remote funding solution only possible through DePIN.
Dabba’s market segmentation
Dabba identifies 3 types of consumers who are driving the insatiable demand for data in India.
Micro-retailers make up almost 98% of India’s micro, small & medium enterprises (MSME). With digital payments on the rise, in part due to the November 2016 banknote demonetization, these businesses require stable internet connectivity to ensure smooth transactions. Alongside payments, establishments offering WiFi connectivity can attract new customers to their premises.
Co-living spaces are very popular in India at the moment. India has 700M people under the age of 30, most of whom need high-speed reliable internet. Much of this co-living demographic is made up of young tech-savvy specialists who have relocated to urban areas for better employment opportunities.
Finally, offices require enterprise-level connectivity. As India’s economy grows and more money finds its way into BRICS nations, it’s a no-brainer that offices will be relying more and more upon fast and reliable internet connections.
Bridging the fiber gap
The penetration of high broadband connectivity into Indian society lags significantly behind that of the next two most populous nations. Such mismatches can have a direct correlation to GDP growth. Dabba offers the following insight on their website’s FAQ:
Studies suggest a link between high broadband penetration (like China's 625 million connections for 1.425 billion people or the US's 120 million for 330 million) and GDP growth. Currently, India has only 30 million fiber connections for 1.442 billion people, a significant gap to bridge.
At the heart of this issue is the rapid urban expansion taking place in India, which is quite a headache for infrastructure, particularly when it comes to broadband connectivity. Indian cities are growing fast but their infrastructures are often left trailing behind. This has led to a rush to build out broadband connectivity in India. Dabba aims to play a significant role in this acceleration.
Dabba’s Laser-Focused Infrastructure Solution
High-bandwidth installations provide a solid data backbone across India. The real trouble begins once the fiber hits the city. In these environments, you’ll often see cables running through the air, interconnected between trees and telephone poles. It’s a quick-patch solution and not the most stable way to host valuable communication channels.
Digging up roads and laying down extensive fiber networks is a big burden, both administratively as well as economically. Dabba witnessed this firsthand when their infrastructure partners couldn’t keep pace with the demand for their public WiFi solution.
Inspired by Google’s Loon project, which saw hot air balloons transmitting signals to each other over long distances through the use of lasers, Dabba looked into using lasers as an alternative to underground fiber.
Instead of outsourcing this technical aspect to Google or to another company, they realized they could effectively create their own urban mesh network by bringing the lasers down from the sky and distributing them across urban skyscapes. In this method, fiber cables need only reach a handful of strategically chosen buildings, feed the transmitters above, and send the signal to a receiver elsewhere, creating an efficient optical grid - a “poor man’s version of Starlink” as Karam describes it in a recent DePIN Hub interview.

Dabba’s laser project has been testing for the past 2 years and is set to launch in 2026. During this test period, they’ve maintained a 99% uptime, even with the challenges of severe weather conditions, curious monkeys, and enthusiastic tenants. This video goes into more detail about the various factors that can affect a laser signal: Early laser vlog test.
The laser hardware will be cheap to purchase and install, making signal redundancy easy to achieve. The laser beams operate in free space optics (FSO) meaning no additional license fees are required, unlike various other signal types within the radio wave spectrum. The installation of a rooftop laser is a 5-minute job: Quick installation update.
Cable Guy!
Throughout India’s digital transformation, the majority of cable TV installers have transitioned to becoming micro ISPs. These local cable operators (LCOs) primarily serve rural and suburban areas and there are said to be at least 80,000 small businesses in this segment (although some estimates point to a much higher figure).

Dabba aims to tap into this vast resource of professional installers and ship out containers with all the necessary equipment (lasers, cables, hotspots) to accelerate the rollout of high-speed internet to their local areas. The cost and labor savings from this innovative approach potentially cuts waiting time down from years to mere weeks.
The DePIN Angle for Dabba
The involvement of local installers in Dabba’s Network is what makes it a truly interesting DePIN project. An investor based in the USA for example, could purchase a Dabba hotspot remotely. Then, in a method similar to how a DeFi investor chooses a stake pool operator to manage their stake, the remote investor chooses a local Dabba-certified installer to deploy their hotspot.
It’s an incredible opportunity enabling anybody around the world to contribute directly to India’s broadband revolution. Not only can you help contribute, but you also get rewarded and can benefit from India’s booming demand. It’s decentralized fundraising at its finest.
Dabba provides more insights on their site:
The enormous amount of capital and manpower required for building and maintaining traditional telecommunication infrastructure acts as a significant barrier to expansion. The DePIN model allows these requirements to be shared amongst several stakeholders who in turn are fairly rewarded according to their contributions to deploying and maintaining the network. This allows for faster deployment and growth of the infrastructure network compared to traditional models.
When you factor in all the demand that’s built up in India, this product becomes less risky compared to other products and verticals in the DePIN space. As we all know by now, creating supply is the easy part of DePIN, finding demand is the real challenge. Dabba appears to be in the right place, at the right time.
Dabba’s Tokenomics
Dabba’s $DBT token is set to launch soon on Solana and will play an integral part in the project’s mint, buyback, and burn mechanism. There will be a capped supply of 10 billion tokens, allowing for the burn mechanism to create a deflationary effect over time.
Alongside the $DBT token are the Data Credits (DCs) which are required for unlocking internet access on a Dabba hotspot. DCs are created by burning $DBT tokens. End-users can pay in fiat for their DCs, which top up their hotspot credit, in a method similar to topping up a pre-paid SIM card. Unlike $DBT’s fluctuating price, Data Credits will be pegged at $0.01 per GB (cheap!). Data Credits are bonded to their users and are non-transferable.
40% of the $DBT supply will be set aside for investors, Dabba Inc., and the Dabba Foundation. The buyback and burn actions will at first be performed manually by the foundation but will become automated over time as Dabba observes their network.

The remaining 60% of the supply will go to hotspot owners as rewards for participating in the Dabba Network. 10% of this supply will be emitted during the first year, followed by a decaying emission rate of 10% per year. This offers a significant advantage to early contributors to the network.
Remote hotspot owners must pay LCOs for their boots-on-the-ground service. As hotspot owners are free to choose their operators, a competitive services marketplace should arise over time. This gives LCOs the flexibility to choose the revenue share model that best fits their service offering.
Dabba Lite Hotspot
The Dabba Lite hotspot serves as the access point for data consumers on the Dabba Network. As a remote owner of a hotspot, you’ll need to choose an LCO to deploy and maintain the equipment.

If you would like to play a role in Dabba’s growth, consider purchasing a Dabba Lite hotspot. Dabba’s Season 2 Sale is currently live and 10,000 hotspots are up for grabs at $199 apiece.
Pre-TGE rewards can even be earned for participating in the testnet before $DBT goes live. Dabba has designed an online calculator to help simulate your earnings: SEASON 2 - Community Pool Calculations.
Dabba Explorer
Dabba has a decent explorer on their site where you can see the live coverage of their testnet. Below is the hotspot offering that’s available to users in Bengaluru (Bangalore), India’s third-largest city.

Remote ownership is something that Dabba has put a lot of thought into. On top of the standard metrics you’d expect from a DePIN explorer, you’ll soon be able to see customer reviews and complaints - an important feature to help remote hotspot owners find the right LCO. Dabba devices are programmed to clock in regularly, so if that event is missed, an LCO technician is dispatched to see what the issue is.
Where to Learn More About Dabba
Whether you’re about to buy a remote hotspot, or you’re based in India and want to offer your technical services, the Dabba team will be happy to help you find your way. Here are the ways to get involved:
- Stay updated on Dabba’s X (Twitter)
- Dive into more detail on the Dabba Wiki site
- Talk to a team member in the Dabba Discord
- Watch some explainer videos on the Dabba YouTube channel
And make sure to listen to Karam’s recent DePIN Hub interview with Daniel.
Challenges for Dabba
No project is a guaranteed success and despite the massive potential for meeting India’s data demand, there are still a few challenges to consider.
First of all, the regulators. Dabba can certainly help speed up India’s internet rollout, which is highly beneficial for a young demographic that’s big into tech. But undercutting large telecom players and profiting inside a license-free spectrum might ruffle some feathers.
Add to this India’s thorny history with crypto and it may not be as clear-cut as in other jurisdictions. High transaction taxes and blanket decisions may have sudden consequences for all crypto projects, regardless of their real-world utility.
Finally, the laser. If the solution is so simple, why isn’t it being used everywhere? Loon’s balloon and laser combo was shuttered after 10 years. Meanwhile, the Dabba team has tested 12 lasers for 18 months. They’ll need a whole lot more than that to service India’s massive population. Time will tell.
Dabba’s Outlook
Despite the few challenges listed above, the potential for growth here is huge. There’s plenty of room for hotspots in India, which makes Dabba’s business model crystal clear: keep deploying more hotspots.
For now, Dabba is focused on defining its process in the highly demanding Indian market. From there on, the obvious next step is to consider replicating the process in other BRICS nations. This expansion could also be technical, as well as geographical. Having a vast network of professional DePIN installers opens the door to installation services for other decentralized hardware, such as for mapping, weather, and GPS.
After looking through the project, it appears these guys have their ducks in a row. The timing is perfect, the demand is there, and the technical solution is unique but also within grasp. Dabba’s crystal clear utility stands out in an industry that all too often builds solutions before looking for problems.
Add to this the fact that the DePIN model allows for crowdfunded capital to help propel them forward and it looks like Dabba could be headed somewhere special.
And for all you DePIN diehards out there, check out the Dabba Pro, this one looks promising!
Jason Glynn is a resident researcher of DePIN Hub. He's well-versed in writing deep dives and objective research on complex topics in DePIN and Web3, as well as other emerging tech. For projects interested in having a research report written, DM us at @hotspotty on X.