Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Open Garden’s internet connectivity solution targets emerging markets

Kyle Wiggers
By
Mobile World Congress 2024
Read our complete coverage of Mobile World Congress
Cellular internet may be a plentiful commodity in developed nations, but in emerging Asian, African, and Latin American markets, it’s a luxury — and typically an unreliable one. In India, for example, only 6.9 percent of the country’s citizens are registered internet users, and they experience speeds on average of 772 kbps — about half of the average U.S. internet connection speeds.To compound things, building the infrastructure necessary to deliver high-speed data can be a pricey proposition.

That’s why Open Garden, a San Francisco-based connectivity company, is taking a decentralized approach to connectivity with MeshKit.

Recommended Videos

MeshKit, which Open Garden announced at the Mobile World Congress convention in Barcelona, Spain, this week, is a peer-to-peer network framework that leverages a combination of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to supply internet in regions of the world where it would otherwise be inaccessible. App developers and digital businesses can enable offline transactions, for instance, and media companies can distribute news and entertainment to customers who aren’t online.

All the more impressive, MeshKit allows mobile developers to distribute their applications offline. Users who have tapped into Open Garden’s ad hoc network don’t need an internet connection to update or download apps and games.

That’s crucial for developers in countries like India, which has the fastest growth rate of registered Internet users of any other country — and the fastest-growing middle class. Apps and websites that are reliably accessible stand a better chance at establishing a foothold in a market fast becoming lucrative.

“Offline is the new frontier. The impossible is now possible with MeshKit: Reach people on their smartphones even when they are offline,” Paul Hainsworth, CEO of Open Garden, said in a press release. “App developers worldwide can now reach audiences even when they are disconnected from the internet to share rich media, enable offline transactions, and grow the number of their users in an unprecedented way.”

Sol Studio, Latin America’s largest music app publisher, is the first company to take advantage of MeshKit’s capabilities. It will employ the service to distribute it’s library of apps, including Palco MP3, the sixth-most downloaded music service in the world; Cifra Club, a music learning platform; and lyric archive Letras.mus.br.

“Studio Sol has always been a digital pioneer,” Samuel Vignoli, co-founder and CEO at Studio Sol, said in a statement. “We’re excited to deploy Open Garden’s innovative technology to reach even more people across Brazil and let them discover new music even when they are offline.”

Topics
Kyle Wiggers
Kyle Wiggers
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kyle Wiggers is a writer, Web designer, and podcaster with an acute interest in all things tech. When not reviewing gadgets…
How to fix the ‘Not Registered on Network’ error on a Samsung Galaxy phone
Someone holding the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

Unlike our phones, the SIM cards that connect them to a network have barely evolved over the last decade or so. This can sometimes mean you'll have trouble connecting to a network, even when the phone and the SIM card are seemingly just fine. If you are using a Samsung Galaxy or another Android phone or tablet with cellular connectivity, you might see an error on your phone that says "Not Registered on Network."

Read more
How to create a Smart Playlist in Apple Music
Creating a Smart Playlist in Music on a MacBook.

If you own a Mac, one of the best ways to take advantage of the built-in Music app is with Smart Playlists. These are automated song libraries that will periodically update, based on criteria you select when building this special playlist. It’s totally free to make a Smart Playlist, and there’s no cap on how many you can have either.

Read more
Save $200 on this Android phone and get free Bose earbuds
Motorola Edge Plus (2023) lying on a bench.

For those who are looking to buy a new Android phone, you may want to go for this offer from Motorola -- the third-generation Motorola Edge Plus for only $600 following a $200 discount on its original price of $800, and it comes with the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II, which are worth $299, for free. That's unbelievable value that will be tough to get from other phone deals, but you'll have to hurry with your purchase if you want to take advantage of this bargain because there's no telling when it ends.

Why you should buy the Motorola Edge Plus (2023)
We reviewed the third-generation Motorola Edge Plus, released just last year, as a worthy competitor to the Google Pixel 7 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S23. The smartphone features a 6.7-inch curved OLED display with Full HD+ resolution and a 165Hz refresh rate, and it's protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus to prevent scratches from daily wear and tear. The Motorola Edge Plus is also pretty fast with its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor and 8GB of RAM, and while it ships with Android 13, you can upgrade it to the latest Android 14 as soon as you unbox the device.

Read more