According to Huawei, 5G and 6G networks may meet the Metaverse’s expectations as they believe the current telecom infrastructure does not achieve these expectations. A three-part blog post by Abhinav Purohit, the Chief Specialist on Business & Strategy Consulting for Huawei’s Middle East region, published on December 20, discussed the potential of the Metaverse and how telecom enterprises would fit into the bigger picture.
Purohit’s Metaverse view: What it is and what it should become
Purohit described how the collaborative virtual environment called the Metaverse would make it feasible for geographically separated people to communicate with one another in ways that are not otherwise possible in the actual world. He added that Web3 is closely linked to an open Metaverse since it would allow built-in economics by utilizing virtual currencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Purohit continued by saying that rapid developments in several fields, such as downloading speeds, streaming efficiency, mobile gadgets, and Metaverse technology, would be necessary for a smoothly operating virtual world.
To provide this experience, advancements in compression algorithms, edge computing, cross-layer visibility, and hybrid local and remote real-time rendering are also necessary. Additionally, he believes that network upgrades, alterations to cellular standards, and reduced latency between mobile networks and gadgets are required.
5G is the Key
Purohit believes that delay, symmetric bandwidth (the speed at which data flows), and the quality of experience are the primary issues currently preventing metaverse networks. He affirms that the widespread adoption of 5G networks will significantly increase bandwidth and reduce congestion issues and delay, while 6G networks will dramatically increase speeds by another degree. In contrast to a fixed wireless broadband setup, 5G network speeds can exceed 1,000 Megabytes per second (MBps), per the reports. These speeds are much faster than the 119.03 MBps national average internet speed in the United States.
When one goes outside the Metaverse, there appears to be a significant effort to have 5G functional worldwide. According to data from the Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), 501 operators have invested in 5G, as of August 2022, in 153 countries and territories. GSA indicates that 222 501 operators have launched 5G mobile services in 89 countries and regions. Given that 5G still needs to be widely implemented and adopted as the global mobile standard, it is still being determined whether a fully scaled Metaverse can be supported by 5G. Additionally, given the recent innovations in space, this could be a significant space to achieve greater heights.