Benefiting Jio and Airtel, according to a reports. According to the paper, the metaverse has huge potential to increase screen time and bandwidth use.
According to Credit Suisse, the transformation of the digital ecosystem to the metaverse, where a person feels immersed in a virtual world, would increase data usage by 20 times globally by 2032, and telecom carriers Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio are well-positioned to gain from the boom in India.
According to the paper, the metaverse has huge potential to increase screen time and bandwidth use. “Internet traffic is already 80% video and expanding at a 30% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) (compound annual growth rate). Even modest metaverse usage, according to our estimates, could drive a 37 percent CAGR to 20 times present data usage in the next decade “According to the reports.
As these are the technologies essential for accessing the metaverse, augmented reality and virtual reality technologies are projected to grow.
While 5G will support the metaverse ecosystem, the emergence of 6G will increase metaverse use cases, according to the paper.
It stated that one of the segments, where early use cases of metaverse are predicted, is gaming.
According to the survey, gaming in India is still in its early stages, and mobile gaming is being driven by smartphones due to the availability of low-cost handsets and 4G broadband services.
“Given India’s low fixed broadband penetration, mobile internet remains the primary means of accessing the internet.” In the coming years, mobile gaming’s share in online games is predicted to grow.
According to the paper, India is one of the world’s leading countries in terms of daily mobile phone usage, but it has low fixed broadband penetration compared to global peers, which will be critical in realising the metaverse’s full potential.
“While it is too early to assess the impact of metaverse on Indian telco revenues,” the paper stated, “we believe Bharti Airtel (with 17% of revenues from fixed lines) and Jio are well-positioned to gain from the rise in data usage led by metaverse in the second half of this decade.”
According to the estimate, fixed broadband penetration in India would rise to 9% in the current fiscal year from 6.8% in the previous fiscal year.
“We predict penetration to rise to 12.6% by FY25E, driven by ongoing data demand and telecoms’ efforts to improve the utilisation rate of their fibre infrastructure,” the report stated.
