Helium Mobile, a decentralized mobile and wireless network, surged 142% on Dec. 2 amid increasing network activity and growth in its mobile subscriber base.

Helium Mobile (MOBILE) rallied to a seven-month high of $0.00257 on Dec. 2 during early Asian trading hours before settling at $0.001916, still marking a 78.7% increase over the past 24 hours, according to data from CoinGecko.

The altcoin’s market cap was seated at $199.2 million when writing, while its daily trading volume was up almost 10x, hovering over $193 million.

Helium Mobile’s recent rally aligns with a sharp rise in Helium Data Credits (DC) usage. These credits, which are fixed-value tokens used for data transfer on the Helium Mobile network, saw a significant increase in burning activity. 

According to data from Dune, daily DC burned jumped by over 30%, rising from $10,606 on Nov. 31 to $13,868 on Dec. 1.

Helium offers a crypto rewards program that allows users and Hotspot operators to earn IOT or MOBILE tokens to help drive its network growth. Both of these tokens can be swapped for HNT, which is the primary utility token used in the Helium Network.

One reason MOBILE’s price could be rising is that traders are taking advantage of an arbitrage opportunity with HNT. 

According to a community member, the current HNT to MOBILE swap rate is around 5,000:1, which is significantly better than the expected final rate of 7,700:1, as outlined in Helium Improvement Proposal 138.

This could prompt many investors to buy MOBILE and then exchange it for HNT to capitalize on the difference—driving demand for MOBILE in the short term and indirectly boosting demand for HNT as well.

MOBILE’s recent bullish momentum also aligns with a continued growth in its mobile subscriber base. Helium Mobile saw its subscriber count surpass 100,000 in early July, reaching 121,719 by Dec. 1. 

According to Helium’s statistics, the MOBILE network currently operates around 21,125 active hotspots, and its IoT solution is deployed across 355,052 locations, with both figures steadily increasing.

Meanwhile, the recent rally has also been supported by broader bullish sentiment in the altcoin market, as Bitcoin (BTC) trades sideways below $100,000. The Altcoin Season Index recently reached a yearly high of 75, signalling the onset of a period where altcoins outperform the leading cryptocurrency.

MOBILE rally likely to continue

On the 1-day MOBILE/USDT price chart, the altcoin was positioned above the upper Bollinger Band, suggesting a strong bullish trend, which will likely lead to further gains for MOBILE holders.

The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator revealed that the MACD line (blue) was positioned well above the signal line (orange), with expanding histogram bars further confirming the strengthening bullish trend.

Both indicators suggest that MOBILE could continue to rally in the short term, potentially testing the $0.00296 resistance level, which was the highest point reached on April 28 and marks a 55% rise from the current price level.