With a handful of regions making metaverse plays at a national level, the government of Southeast Asia’s largest economy has asked the state carrier to create a metaverse to support local firms.
In a bid to promote local firms that compete with foreign services and take back control from tech giants like Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Meta, Indonesia has tasked its state carrier with exploring developments in the budding metaverse sector.
To this end, Indonesian multinational telecommunications conglomerate PT Telkom Indonesia has launched “metaNesia,” a metaverse world meant to help businesses adapt to the fast-changing online landscape. In a Sunday statement, State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir reportedly said:
Don’t let other countries create a new world with their own payment system, while the market remains in Indonesia. Then we will regret it.
The metaverse is expected to include a mall for shops, service centers, and entertainment, as well as a platform for metaverse events. Later this year, metaNesia hopes to host an NFT marketplace, esports functions, and virtual meetings.
Elsewhere in South Korea, the government wants to become the fifth-largest metaverse market in the next couple of years.