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Coronavirus prompts Sony, NTT Docomo and Intel to pull out of world’s biggest mobile industry event
- US chip giant Intel and Japanese companies NTT Docomo and Sony join others that have withdrawn from MWC Barcelona because of the coronavirus outbreak
- MWC Barcelona, which will be held from February 24 to 27, is the mobile industry’s biggest annual gathering
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Japanese wireless carrier NTT Docomo, Sony and California-based chip giant Intel pulled out of the the MWC Barcelona trade show on Monday because of the coronavirus outbreak.
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Amazon.com, South Korea’s LG Electronics, Swedish telecommunications equipment supplier Ericsson and US chip maker Nvidia have already withdrawn from MWC Barcelona, which had more than 100,000 visitors and upwards of 2,400 exhibitors in 2019.
MWC Barcelona, which will be held from February 24 to 27, is the mobile industry’s biggest annual gathering, with companies spending millions on stands and hospitality to fill their order books.
Barcelona’s economy got a boost of around 470 million euros (US$515 million) last year from the event, according to estimates by organiser the GSM Assocation. The GSMA had no immediate comment.
Gremi d’Hotels de Barcelona, the city’s main hotels association, said coronavirus concerns had resulted in cancellations, but it was too early to quantify the impact on overall bookings.
And the region’s digital policy councillor, Jordi Puignero, told local radio station RAC1 the Catalan regional government was “taking measures so that everything proceeds as normal”.
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