South Korean wireless telecommunications operator SK Telecom, which operates its own metaverse platform called ifland, said Wednesday it signed a deal with United Arab Emirates’ top telecommunications carrier e& Group to provide its metaverse service to Middle Eastern countries.

Under the memorandum of understanding, South Korea’s leading telecommunications carrier will be developing an optimal metaverse service tailored to Middle Eastern users’ tastes, based on the data e& collects from local markets such as in UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Both telecommunications carriers are currently jointly pushing for market research to more accurately understand Middle Eastern consumers.

The two companies are analyzing the metaverse usage experience of e&'s telecommunications service subscribers and planning to verify the new metaverse service’s marketability based on the data.

The new metaverse service is expected to reflect cultural aspects of Middle Eastern countries, by including traditional digital outfits for avatars and representative buildings of UAE in the virtual space to suit users' tastes.

“We will seek new possibilities for metaverse services through a partnership with e&,” said Ha Min-yong, chief development officer at SK Telecom.

"We will continue cooperation with e& not only for metaverse services, but for various information and communication technology-using services in the future."