It’s only natural for media to focus on the amazing new user experiences the metaverse will unleash. But in all the excitement about immersive virtual worlds, we should make sure we’re not shortchanging the incredible telecommunications innovations happening behind the scenes. It’s Communications Service Providers (CSPs), after all, that will provide many of the core capabilities that make the metaverse possible. Broad and dense coverage to bring immersive gaming and Augmented Reality (AR) to millions. Ultra-low latencies to support lifelike Virtual Reality (VR) experiences. Massive capacity to enable 3D navigation, hyper-realistic simulations, and more.
Today, the world’s telecoms are building out the networks to make these and other capabilities possible. That shouldn’t be surprising. What may be, however, are the more ambitious plans currently being discussed in CSP boardrooms, where leading operators plan to go beyond simply enabling the metaverse. They aim to use it for new internal and customer-facing applications.
As one of the world’s premier network testing partners, Spirent often gets a firsthand view of where CSPs see digital services heading next. Here’s what the people shaping tomorrow’s virtual experiences are saying about the future of the metaverse and telecom’s growing role within it.
Building a strong foundation
Before CSPs can start capitalizing on the metaverse, they need to ensure their networks can actually deliver it. First on the list of requirements: higher capacity and lower latencies. Ongoing 5G network rollouts will provide the high-performance backbone for real-time AR experiences, immersive VR gaming, and more. But to unlock the metaverse’s full potential, we’ll need other foundational network capabilities too.
For example, in most cellular networks today, downlinks make up about 80% of total throughput. The real-time interactive services that define the metaverse will require much higher uplink throughputs and more symmetrical communications across the radio network. Fortunately, upcoming 5G New Radio (NR) features in both 3GPP Release 16 and 17 will offer new options to improve uplink throughput and end-to-end latency.
Of course, it’s not just the network that needs optimization. We can’t build truly immersive metaverse experiences with today’s big, power-hungry, compute-intensive VR headsets. So, CSPs and equipment-makers are looking at new device-side strategies as well. First, they’re exploring ways to move more processing off to the edge. Among other benefits, this will enable smaller headsets with lower power consumption. However, immersive virtual experiences will also require a very tightly bounded low-latency relationship between edge compute and user device, and it’s not yet clear how that will work. CSPs are currently studying not just what the edge needs to deliver, but how many edge instances might be needed for different applications.
Also at the device level, new 5G Reduced Capacity (RedCap) features in Release 17 can substantially reduce device signaling capacity on the network. These features were originally designed for the Internet of Things, to enable smaller form-factor connected devices with lower power consumption and longer battery life. Those same attributes, however, make RedCap an excellent option for AR/VR applications, where it can enable a new generation of lightweight metaverse devices and wearables.
Telcos enter the metaverse
We’ve been working with CSPs pursuing metaverse-enabling network strategies for several years now. What’s been intriguing in recent discussions, however, is the number of operators exploring opportunities within the metaverse - not just enabling it, but using it. CSPs are considering a number of possibilities, including:
- Customer engagement: Some CSPs are exploring how they could use virtualized environments as an alternative venue for customer care and support.
- Enabling mobility: Some mobile operators are considering providing (and monetizing) mobility services within the metaverse. For example, emerging 5G/Wi-Fi convergence techniques could enable seamless handoffs across public and private local networks, allowing users to maintain immersive virtual experiences on the move. CSPs initially discussed these types of offerings for hybrid industrial networks, but many believe they could be valuable in the metaverse too.
- Network slicing: Some CSPs are exploring the potential of 5G network slicing - creating virtual networks tuned for the needs of specific applications. Here though, CSPs would offer different types of connectivity, at different cost structures, within the metaverse. It’s not yet clear how telcos would monetize these slices. Rather than trying to sell directly to consumers, it might make more sense for CSPs to work with content providers, such as VR gaming companies, behind the scenes to assure quality, latency, and mobility.
- Voice and collaboration services: 5G doesn’t support voice today, so for example, if a 5G user immersed in a VR experience needed to make a phone call, their session would get pushed back to 4G. As CSPs transition to 5G Standalone (SA) networks, Voice-over-5G NR (VoNR) capabilities will eliminate this issue, while providing higher-definition audio quality for immersive virtual experiences. However, several CSPs have noted that, once VoNR is fully integrated onto their systems, they’ll have all the tools in place to offer unique business and social collaboration services that combine 5G voice and data with immersive AR/VR applications.
Reimagining network operations
Among the most intriguing metaverse possibilities, some CSPs are exploring the use of digital twins for network planning and maintenance. Here, a CSP would create detailed, real-time virtual representations of their geographies, cell sites, and transport infrastructure. This could be a huge benefit - especially considering that many network teams today don’t even have fully accurate inventories of what’s deployed in the field. With the ability to visualize all network devices and their current status in real time, operations teams could identify faults and fix problems more quickly, at a lower cost.
Digital twins in the metaverse could also benefit network planning. For example, some CSPs are considering using drones to capture HD video of landscapes targeted for new cell sites. Planning teams could use detailed 3D renderings to simulate local conditions and landscape features, and identify optimal radio deployments.
Looking ahead
What should we take away from these early CSP metaverse conversations? Tomorrow’s immersive end-user experiences will, no doubt, be incredible. But based on what those building the backbone for the metaverse are planning, the future of telecommunications looks just as exciting.
