Though yet to gain ground in Africa, metaverse growth projections released on May 16 by Analysis Group, a research company contracted by Meta, indicate that the metaverse will pump an additional $40 billion into sub-Saharan Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) in a decade’s time.
There is one major caveat though according to the report: the need for metaverse growth and adoption to be similar to that of mobile technology. The report says, “If the metaverse were to be adopted and grow in a similar way as mobile technology, then we would expect it to be associated with a 2.8% contribution to global GDP after 10 years.”
There are major hurdles that are still throttling Africa’s progress in the global digital economy such as the high cost of mobile data compared to the rest of the world, low smartphone penetration, and high cost plus limited availability of Virtual Reality headsets that power the metaverse.
Meta’s billion dollar projections for Africa’s adoption of the metaverse faces hurdles
According to the GSMA, in sub-Saharan Africa, despite vast improvements, only 28% of the population was connected to the internet by the end of 2020.
It is also a continent with occasional internet and social media shutdowns, which have resulted in the loss of billions of dollars in e-commerce revenue. It remains blurry how the metaverse will benefit Africa’s rural dwellers who still rely on 2G and 3G internet.
5G network connectivity, one of the most potential innovations expected to actualize the metaverse is yet to gain traction in Africa, though a number of countries have installed 5G base stations for piloting.
According to the World Bank’s 2020 report, Africa’s GDP is $1.7 trillion but when adjusted to 2021’s inflation rates, Meta’s metaverse projection mean the continent is set to a 1.8% rise in GDP in 10 years’ time, just from the advent of the metaverse.
