South Africa’s mobile network operator MTN Group wants to tap into its wide network of 34.5 million subscribers in Africa to lead the way in popularizing the metaverse in the continent. Present in 17 countries in Africa, the company has announced a new metaverse platform -altMTN – and a virtual music concert in November to help unlock the potential of immersive experiences.

It is now partnering with The Mic: Africa, an African music, arts, and culture networking platform, to host the continent’s first metaverse music concert.

Group marketing executive Bernice Samuels says MTN’s metaverse will help the company “support African innovation, and will, over time feature live events, shopping, gaming, and learning.”

Samuel adds, “We will be running a competition with our customers, giving them a chance to win exclusive tickets to the concert. We believe that by tapping into a key passion on the continent, namely music, we can actively draw our customers into the environment to not only experience it first-hand, but also to help us to improve altMTN.”

Metaverse potential in Africa

In February this year, MTN bought 144 plots of virtual land in Ubuntuland, a 3D virtual reality immersive hub owned by South African tech firm Mann Made, for an undisclosed amount.

Among African artistes, the metaverse wave appears to be changing how they present their art with the formation of online forums and communities such as the Africa NFT Community, Black NFT Art, Kenyan NFT Club, and Nigeria NFT Community to network on how best to reap from immersive tech.

source: https://qz.com/mtns-metaverse-concert-to-awaken-african-creators-1849708283