Huawei Research Indicates Metaverse Infrastructure Isn't Ready

Huawei, a Chinese multinational telecommunications corporation, is of the opinion that the existing telecommunications infrastructure is not enough to meet the requirements of the Metaverse, but that 5G and 6G networks just could be.

Abhinav Purohit, Chief Expert on Business & Strategy Consulting for Huawei's Middle East area, made the remarks. On December 20, he released a three-part blog series that focused on the potential of the Metaverse sector and where telecom firms would come into the picture.

Purohit, in his explanation of what the Metaverse is or what its actualization will look like, outlined that a metaverse is a collective virtual shared space that will enable participants located in different parts of the world to enjoy realistic, spatially-aware experiences that seamlessly blend virtual content in a user's physical world. In other words, a metaverse is an actualization of the Metaverse.

In addition to this, he said that the concept of an open Metaverse is intrinsically linked to the Web3 movement, as in-built economies would be made possible by the use of digital currencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

It is expected that advancements in download speeds, streaming quality, mobile devices, and Metaverse hardware, amongst other things, will need to be made quickly in order to fulfill such a vision. These developments will allow a virtual sphere that can be navigated easily.

Additionally, Abhinav Purohit is of the opinion that there will need to be modifications made to cellular standards, network optimizations, and improvements made to the latency between mobile devices and networks.

The primary challenges that are preventing metaverse networks from reaching their full potential at the moment are latency (the responsiveness of a network), symmetric bandwidth (the speed at which data travels), and quality of experience (network throughput).

He concludes by asserting that widespread use of 5G networks would greatly boost bandwidth while simultaneously lowering network congestion and latency, and that adoption of 6G networks will raise speeds by an additional order of magnitude.

In order to put the speeds of 5G networks into perspective in comparison to those of fixed wireless broadband, it is said that 5G is capable of reaching rates of one gigabyte per second (MBps).

When viewed from the outside of the Metaverse, it does appear that there is a significant push to get 5G fully operational across the globe. According to data provided by the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), as of August 2022, 501 operators in 153 countries and territories were investing in 5G.

According to the statistics provided by the GSA, 222 of these 501 operators have already offered 5G mobile services in 89 nations and territories. These countries and territories are located all over the world.