Totem’s Unity Mesh Network Powers Three Ireland’s Friend Finder at Electric Picnic 2026
Totem, Inc., the U.S.-based technology company behind the Unity Mesh Network™, is bringing its offline communication technology back to Ireland’s Electric Picnic festival for the second consecutive year. The company is once again partnering with Three Ireland to power the Three Friend Finder, a service designed to help festivalgoers locate and reconnect with friends in crowded areas.
The collaboration will run from , during Electric Picnic. Following a strong response to the service’s debut in 2025, the 2026 edition will feature an expanded and upgraded Unity Mesh Network deployment, with more devices available to Three+ customers throughout the festival weekend.
Solving the Challenge of Finding Friends at Festivals
Large music festivals can bring tens of thousands of people together within a relatively small area. While mobile networks may provide connectivity, finding one particular person within a constantly moving crowd presents a separate challenge.
Festival attendees frequently move between stages, food areas, attractions, and crowded headline performances. Mobile phone calls and messages can become less effective when people are surrounded by large numbers of other attendees. Even when a strong cellular connection is available, simply telling a friend where to meet may not be enough to locate them in a dense crowd.
The Three Friend Finder is designed specifically to address this problem by creating a communication network within the festival environment itself.
How the Unity Mesh Network Works
The Three Friend Finder uses Totem’s Unity Mesh Network, a self-sustaining mesh communication system in which individual devices function as network nodes.
Rather than depending entirely on conventional cellular infrastructure or Wi-Fi, the devices communicate with one another through a peer-to-peer mesh. Location information can move across the network from device to device, allowing users to locate friends even in areas where conventional connectivity may be limited.
The system also uses GNSS positioning, enabling location accuracy of approximately 1–2 meters under suitable conditions. Users are guided toward their friends through an intuitive interface featuring a ring of pulsating lights that indicates the direction and proximity of the person they are trying to find.
This approach is particularly suited to festival environments, where conventional communication infrastructure can face significant demand.
Designed for High-Density Environments
A major advantage of a mesh network is its ability to operate across densely populated areas without relying solely on traditional network infrastructure.
Festivals create unique connectivity challenges because thousands of people gather in concentrated spaces and move continuously throughout the day. The Unity Mesh Network is designed to expand its communication capability through the devices participating in the network.
This makes the technology complementary to the existing connectivity services provided by Three Ireland at Electric Picnic. While cellular connectivity remains important for general communication and online services, the Friend Finder addresses the more specific task of locating another person within a large and constantly changing crowd.
Expanded Deployment for 2026
Following the positive reception of the Friend Finder in 2025, Three Ireland and Totem are expanding the service for this year’s festival.
The 2026 deployment will feature an upgraded Unity Mesh Network and a larger number of devices available to Three+ customers. The expansion is intended to allow more festival attendees to use the service and benefit from a simpler way of reconnecting with friends.
The return of the service also demonstrates the partners’ confidence in the technology after its initial introduction at Electric Picnic.
Totem’s Growing Global Network
Electric Picnic is also an important milestone for Totem as the company continues to expand its global network.
Totem says its Unity Mesh Network now includes more than 62,000 devices across 79 countries. The Electric Picnic deployment represents one of the company’s largest single-site managed network installations to date.
The festival therefore provides an opportunity for Totem to demonstrate how its mesh technology can operate at scale in a highly concentrated environment.
The partnership also highlights a broader shift in how offline communication technologies can be used. Rather than being positioned solely as an alternative to conventional connectivity, mesh networking can provide specialized solutions for situations where traditional infrastructure is under pressure or where users need more precise location-based communication.
Three Ireland Brings the Technology to Customers
Three Ireland is one of the country’s major mobile operators, serving approximately 5.4 million customers. The company is part of CK Hutchison’s 3 Group Europe, which has more than 60 million registered mobile customers across its European markets.
The collaboration with Totem gives Three Ireland an opportunity to integrate an emerging communication technology into a consumer-focused festival experience.
For customers, the Friend Finder is positioned as a practical service rather than simply a technology demonstration. It addresses a common problem faced by festival attendees and aims to make the overall event experience more convenient.
Totem CEO Highlights the Use Case
Carter Fowler, Founder and CEO of Totem, said the technology was developed to address precisely the type of challenge presented by large festival environments.
“Even with the great connectivity that Three provides Electric Picnic attendees, finding a specific person in a huge, moving festival crowd is a different challenge,” Fowler said.
He explained that Totem’s technology is intended to provide people with a simple and reliable method of locating friends in busy environments. Following the successful introduction of Friend Finder in 2025, Totem is working with Three Ireland to make the service available to more festivalgoers this year.
Strong Interest From Festivalgoers
Three Ireland has also reported strong consumer interest in its Three+ customer offering. According to the company, its latest Three+ competition attracted almost 26,000 entries in just 22 days, demonstrating significant interest in festival-related experiences among Irish consumers.
Tanya Townsend, Senior Brand and Sponsorship Activation Manager at Three Ireland, said the company was pleased to bring the Friend Finder back after the positive response to its first year.
Townsend described the technology as an example of how innovation can address a genuine problem faced by festival attendees. By helping people reconnect more quickly, the service allows friends to spend less time searching for one another and more time enjoying the festival.
Expanding Beyond Festivals
The Electric Picnic partnership also demonstrates a broader potential application for Totem’s technology.
The company’s network can be licensed and adapted for use by telecommunications operators, event organizers, brands, and other organizations looking to provide customized communication and location services in high-density environments.
Festivals are one example of where such technology can be valuable. Other potential environments could include large events, crowded public spaces, remote locations, and situations where conventional communication infrastructure is limited or unavailable.
The partnership with Three Ireland therefore provides Totem with an opportunity to demonstrate how its technology can be integrated into large-scale commercial and consumer experiences.
Building a Global Offline Communication Network
Totem is a Tennessee-based technology company focused on developing self-sustaining communication networks that reduce reliance on traditional communications infrastructure.
Since launching the Totem Compass in 2024, the company says it has expanded its network to more than 62,000 users across 79 countries. The Unity Mesh Network represents the company’s broader vision of creating a global communication ecosystem capable of supporting connectivity beyond conventional cellular networks.
With the return of Three Friend Finder to Electric Picnic, Totem and Three Ireland are demonstrating how mesh networking can be transformed into a practical consumer service. The 2026 deployment is expected to provide more festivalgoers with access to the technology while showcasing the potential of offline communication in one of Europe’s largest festival environments.
The partnership’s second consecutive year at Electric Picnic marks another step in the development of mesh networking as a practical tool for location-based communication and high-density events.
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