e&, the company formerly known as Etisalat Group, becomes the next high-profile UAE company to embrace the metaverse, with the soft launch of e& universe at this week’s Gitex Global 2022.
The country’s leading telecom provider, whose 5G network is going to play a key role in the UAE’s journey to becoming a force in the virtual world, is looking at the development as a significant achievement in the group’s transformation journey to a global technology and investment conglomerate.
Hatem Dowidar, Group CEO, e&, said, “Metaverse technology may be in the early incubation stages, given that it needs high-bandwidth and low-latency communications to work at scale.
“Still, telcos must consider harnessing its potential for the betterment of lives, whether it is a virtual playground or shopping destination, or even using it as a training ground for smarter, more efficient AI and industrial manufacturing processes.
“To get it to work at the grand scale, we all envision will require robust connectivity solutions. This is where 5G becomes the fulcrum, given that mobile networks may not be able to handle the metaverse network demands.”
Based on the limitless possibilities that are available in metaverse adoption and in line with its commitment to digitally empower societies, e& is taking a significant step forward into the technology by announcing the launch of e& universe, hosted virtually in Arcadia Planitia on Mars.
The company has two other major showcases at Gitex – the Metaverse Service and Etisalat by e&’s business centre.
The Metaverse Service, in collaboration with SK Telecom, the largest mobile operator in Korea, is a platform designed to maximise user experience through multiple virtual spaces and avatars. Etisalat by e&’s business centre showcase is in collaboration with Huawei, where e& is demonstrating the future of retail using a 3D retail experience in an innovative way.
Referring to a report by Ericsson, which says that 5G is a critical enabler for the metaverse and its entire ecosystem as it has global reach, including roaming capabilities, Dowidar added, “To harness the power of the metaverse, telcos must expand beyond their traditional capabilities and more towards embracing a growth mindset where they are open to exploring innovative ideas.
“In fact, telcos can play a more prominent role in the metaverse value chain by leveraging emerging technologies such as 5G, edge cloud, analytics and artificial intelligence (AI).”
e& sees the following opportunities in the metaverse domain for telcos…
- Cloud computing services – Edge computing is one of the foundational stones in the metaverse, and telcos are in a prime position to provide these services so as to unlock more efficient data transfer, lower the load of network congestion and also add another revenue stream in the process.
- Human interface hardware – Telcos can drive the adoption of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) applications used for optimal interaction in the metaverse. These could be through the bundling of VR devices and connectivity services and go further in adopting an end-to-end (E2) device lifecycle management approach.
- Advanced analytics or AI – Telcos have access to a variety of data points. In the metaverse, they can use these big data insights to improve decision-making. The data could also help in using customer-and operations-related insights to use advanced analytics and AI to bolster revenues.
- Connectivity provider – With the generational shift from 5G to 6G as e& moves towards 2030, this will further the adoption of the metaverse in daily life. Telcos can play a big part in addressing network capacity and efficiency-related issues.
- Metaverse platforms – As the metaverse platforms will evolve from a series of various virtual worlds created individually by companies, there will come a time when a super virtual world will be formed. By investing in emerging metaverse platforms, telcos will have the upper hand in building the in-depth technical expertise required to create the metaverse of the future.
- Cybersecurity, privacy and trust – Individuals and enterprises remain concerned about their digital footprint and data integrity. As data custodians, telcos are seen as trusted partners by customers in keeping their private data safe. Telcos could consider leveraging their current customer relationships and position themselves as ‘identity management experts’.
Telcos will also be required to partner with technology giants, internet tech companies, specialist cloud providers, device manufactures, technology platform providers as well as online game developers so that they can create a partner ecosystem for developing a solid virtual world ecosystem. Telcos can become the orchestrators of the metaverse ecosystems by identifying collaborative opportunities with involved parties.
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