On 28th February 2022, MTN bought 144 plots of digital land in the Africarare metaverse Ubuntuland for an undisclosed sum making it the first African company to enter the Metaverse.
According to techcabal, Ubuntuland is being developed by Africarare and Mann Made Media and will be open to public land sales later this year, with Africarare, being the first South African metaverse housing digital land with roots in Africa.
This move by MTN is set to open up the conversation on the role of the Metaverse in the real estate sector in Africa. Already, there has been immense activity coming out of the US, Europe and Asia with other platforms such as Sandbox recording approximately US$86 million in sales in the last week of November 2021 while Decentraland recorded approximately US$15 million with a record sale of US$2.4 million during the same period.
With over 204,642 plots of land available and traded on the Ubuntu token, this virtual space is expected to set the pace for Africa’s metaverse real estate market by joining in on the global market that is estimated to grow by a CAGR of 31% by 2028 in what JP Morgan has labeled a trillion-dollar possibility.
Other companies that have bought land on the Metaverse include Adidas, Samsung, PWC and JP Morgan.