(Yicai Global) June 30 -- China's biggest carrier China Mobile announced at this year's Mobile World Conference that it has set up a metaverse industry alliance with 23 other members.

The group’s first 24 members include hardware makers such as Huawei Technology, Xiaomi, Faceunity Technology, and Moore Threads, and application developers, including iFlytek and Unity China, covering the fields of content creation, extended reality terminals, and computing power network, China Mobile said.

China Mobile will offer special support to the members, doubling resources input in the next three years, said Liu Xin, general manager at China Mobile's digital content unit Migu Culture Technology.

Since the beginning of the year, large internet firms have downsized their metaverse divisions after big expansions in the industry last year because of operating pressures.

Partnerships between carriers and companies across the metaverse industry chain will fill some market voids following the retreat of internet firms to some extent, an industry insider told Yicai Global.

Compared to internet firms, carriers have advantages in infrastructure, user base, network coverage, data resources, and industrial partner resources, according to Zhang Chenkai, executive director at China Insights Consultancy.

China’s big three carriers, namely China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom, showcased their metaverse-related products at the MWC, Yicai Global learned while attending the event. This year's second MWC, a global conference series for emerging mobile trends, was held in Shanghai between June 28 and today.

Various omni-scenario metaverse products, including metaverse service halls, cities, and villages, and education services, were on display at China Unicom's booth. Meanwhile, China Telecom brought some cloud metaverse applications, and China Mobile set up a dedicated metaverse-themed exhibition area.

Editors: Shi Yi, Futura Costaglione