Amazon pulls out of world’s biggest mobile industry trade show in Barcelona over coronavirus
- MWC Barcelona is one of the telecoms industry’s biggest gatherings which attracts over 100,000 visitors
- Amazon is the fourth company to pull out of the annual gathering this week, following LG Electronics, Ericsson and Nvidia
Amazon.com has pulled out of this month’s MWC Barcelona event because of the coronavirus outbreak, in another blow to one of the telecom industry’s biggest gatherings which attracts over 100,000 visitors to the Spanish city.
“Due to the outbreak and continued concerns about the new coronavirus, Amazon will withdraw from exhibiting and participating in Mobile World Congress 2020,” the company said in a statement on Sunday.
Amazon had planned a significant presence through its cloud computing arm Amazon Web Services, which was due to host a full-day conference track on the first day of the event.
The event will go ahead as planned from February 24 to 27, according to organiser the GSM Association in a statement on Sunday, ahead of Amazon’s announcement that it was pulling out. The GSMA, which represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide, said it would tighten health precautions to guard against the coronavirus outbreak.
No visitors will be allowed to attend from China’s Hubei province, where the coronavirus outbreak started, while visitors from China must prove they have been outside the country for two weeks before the event, the GSMA said.
