Metaverse hype was hanging like a multicolored fog over the Mobile World Congress (MWC) connectivity trade show in Barcelona this week.
Conference organizer, the GSMA’s, program pitched attendees into a smorgasbord of metaverse-themed discussions — most of which seemed designed to generate maximum FOMO, as a parade of tech evangelists took to the stage in Spain, armed with a new generation of acronyms and luridly colored slide-decks, urging the audience not to sweat the detail of whatever this metaverse thing is (or isn’t). And just focus on monetizing it before someone else does.
Europe’s carriers are fully onboard the technicolor hype machine. At MWC they sought to train the show’s global spotlight onto the role of network infrastructure — arguing their pipes-cum-platforms will be essential connective tissue for all this sexy virtual world building, connecting “everything, everywhere”, as one overly-ambitious show floor slogan put it — and using that logic as a sp...
