By 
MTN Group has announced its investment in metaverse with land ownership on Africarare.
The parent company of MTN Nigeria said it is the first African company to purchase space on Africarare, “which made its debut in South Africa in October 2021, as the first African Virtual Reality (VR) metaverse featuring digital land.”
In a press statement on its website: the telco’s investment in the virtual real estate “will see MTN owning 144 plots of virtual land with an overall area of 12x12m.”
Investment in metaverse strengthens the company’s ambitious move to leverage emerging technologies and deliver more robust digital services including gaming and music. The company paid a hefty $273.6m for its 5G spectrum licence last week in Nigeria.
RELATED 5G: MTN, Mafab Beat Deadline With $273.6m Licence Payment To NCC
Part of the telco’s statement reads: “This investment demonstrates MTN’s commitment to supporting African innovation as it is the first company on the continent to support an initiative of this kind. Through its presence in the metaverse, MTN intends to increase its customer attractiveness through a series of experiences merged with consumer passion points, like gaming and music.”
MTN Group Executive, Marketing, Bernice Samuels, noted in the statement: “This is an exciting moment for us as we lead businesses on the continent to enter the metaverse marketplace. This is exactly what our Ambition 2025 strategy is premised on – leveraging trends that amplify consumer’s digital experiences and engagement. We have always been at the forefront of technological and digital changes and we remain alive to the exciting opportunities the metaverse presents for us and our customers’’.
Virtual real estate investment is becoming an attractive investment-point for global players like Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Snapchat, and Meta (Facebook). Metaverse opens a new chapter in investment to unlock new digital oppurtunities.
“The term ‘metaverse’ is a portmanteau that combines the worlds ‘meta’ and ‘universe.’ It is used primarily to refer to an anticipated future iteration of the internet that’s often hailed as Web 3.0. This evolution of the internet is expected to see the rise of online 3-D or virtually integrated environments that provide users access to virtual reality and augmented reality experiences,” writes Amanda Reaume in Seeking Alpha.
She adds: “The metaverse refers to both current and future integrated digital platforms focused on virtual and augmented reality. It is widely hyped as the internet’s next frontier and seen as a significant business and financial opportunity for the tech industry and other sectors.”
