On 29 September, the first edition of #TelefónicaMetaverseDay was held, an event where Telefónica shared its innovations, strategy and partnerships around metaverse, Web3 and other emerging technologies.
Attendees could follow the event in person at the Telefónica District auditorium, which also had a demo area called “The Playground”, or via streaming, through the event’s website or in AltSpaceVR, a multi-user virtual environment that allowed users to enjoy the event in an immersive way.
Telefónica opens the door to a new era
Firstly, Chema Alonso told how we are immersed in a technological tsunami and an unprecedented re-evolution of the Internet with technologies with great potential such as Blockchain, AR/VR/XR, 5G, Wi-Fi 6 or Edge Computing necessary for the arrival of Web3. “As we have always done, we have to transform ourselves. But no longer only with a telecommunications company vision. We have to think outside the box and take decisions at the sector level,” he said.
As for tokens, he stressed that they will completely change the paradigm of buying, selling and exchanging goods and that their use is unstoppable. Telefónica’s Chief Digital Officer also reported on Telefónica’s strategic investment in the Bit2Me exchanger, which has enabled the Bit2Me Commerce payment method in Telefónica tu.com‘s sustainable technology e-commerce. This method allows the use of cryptocurrencies to carry out certain transactions. Also, aboutprojects that have been developed such as Movistar Tokens, where customers are rewarded for being more digital, or the Telefónica Marketplace a new platform for the creation and sale of digital art, where the exclusive creations of artists and creators are hosted. To close his speech, he recalled Telefónica’s commitment to innovation with high investment and resources in start-ups through Wayra.
Meanwhile, Irene Bernal, Director of Connectivity Innovation at Telefónica, continued by showing examples of experiences that have begun to be developed in the metaverse and the pillars for an operator to be prepared to be a “Telco Metaverse Ready”: low latency technologies, edge computing and a programmable network. She further defined the Metaverse as a “virtual, immersive, interactive, massive, real-time environment” that is challenged by the immense data traffic, reduced latency and more powerful bandwidth.
On the other hand, Yaiza Rubio led the talk on metaverse: “The reality is that no one knows how important the metaverse will be 30 years from now, but we do know that the metaverse proposes a new form of relationship that is much more humane“. He pointed out that this world offers us use cases applicable to online training, meeting people from all over the world or living experiences that are completely impossible to imagine in a physical world: “And that’s what we’ve been doing at Telefónica for almost 100 years: offering experiences that once seemed impossible in order to connect people’s lives. In addition, Yaiza told attendees about Telefónica’s inclusion in the “Metaverse Standards Forum” asthe main member of the Telco industry in this alliance. It is a forum for discussion and coordination between various standards organisations and companies that create products and services related to the metaverse.
Daniel Hernandez, VP Devices & Consumer IoT, stressed that Extended Reality (ER) or XR devices are no longer science fiction, they are a reality. He was joined by Hugo Swart, VP & GM of XR at Qualcomm, who spoke about Telefónica and Qualcomm’s partnership to build the future of XR and the Metaverse together: “You are our best partners in the telecoms space and we are delighted to work with you“.
Later, the executive announced the partnership with Unity: “is our partner of reference for building experiences in the Metaverse” and with Niantic: “The absolute leader in creating Augmented Reality (AR) experiences”.
Finally, we listened to Aitor Goyenechea, Director of Advertising, Brand and Sponsorships at Movistar Spain, who said that Movistar is creating new experiences where the physical and digital worlds are integrated and gave as an example the collaboration with the artist Okuda San Miguel, who has collaborated in the creation of the app “Movistar Immersive Experience” for the Meta Quest 2 glasses and who took the stage to talk about his project.
The Playground: the space for demos and immersive experiences
The Playground, the space destined to experience the technological evolution and revolution of our products, allowed attendees to immerse themselves in different demos such as those related to the network revolution, with demos on metaverse calls or holographic calls, demos on AR and VR, 3D holograms and hyperrealistic avatars or demos related to Web3, among others.
If you want to relive the best moments of the event, click here to see the video summary, the talks or photos of the meeting.
