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\u2019s gross domestic product (GDP) in a decade\u2019s time.<\/p>\n
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, \u201cIf 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are major hurdles that are still throttling Africa\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Meta\u2019s billion dollar projections for Africa\u2019s adoption of the metaverse faces hurdles
\nAccording 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s rural dwellers who still rely on 2G and 3G internet.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
According to the World Bank\u2019s 2020 report, Africa\u2019s GDP is $1.7 trillion but when adjusted to 2021\u2019s inflation rates, Meta\u2019s metaverse projection mean the continent is set to a 1.8% rise in GDP in 10 years\u2019 time, just from the advent of the metaverse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
a word that until last year only existed in science fiction\u2014is now the mainstay terminology when world economies look into the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":8327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,21],"tags":[7,26,22],"class_list":{"0":"post-8330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-technology","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-technology"},"yoast_head":"\n