Coronavirus: MWC Barcelona, world’s biggest mobile trade show, cancelled as firms withdraw over outbreak crisis
- Global concern over the coronavirus outbreak, travel and other circumstances made it ‘impossible’ for organiser GSMA to hold the event
This year’s edition of MWC Barcelona, the world’s biggest mobile industry gathering, has been cancelled less than two weeks before its opening, devastated by the pull-out of major exhibitors over concerns about the coronavirus outbreak.
“With due regard to the safe and healthy environment in Barcelona and the host country today, the GSMA has cancelled MWC Barcelona 2020 because the global concern regarding the coronavirus outbreak, travel concern and other circumstances, make it impossible for the GSMA to hold the event,” said John Hoffman, chief executive of the GSM Association, in a statement late on Wednesday.
London-based GSMA, organiser of the event, represents the interests of more than 750 mobile network operators around the world. “The GSMA and the host city parties will continue to be working in unison and supporting each other for MWC Barcelona 2021 and future editions,” Hoffman said.
Some of MWC Barcelona’s largest participants to recently withdraw include telecommunications equipment suppliers Nokia and Ericsson, as well as mobile network operators Vodafone Group, Deutsche Telekom, AT&T, BT Group, Orange and NTT Docomo.
Other companies that have also dropped out of the event include smartphone vendors Vivo and LG Electronics, chip suppliers Intel Corp and Nvidia, as well as Facebook, Sony Corp and Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing subsidiary of Amazon.com.
The GSMA’s decision not to push through with the event, which was to be held from February 24 to 27, has come as the coronavirus has so far infected more than 44,000 people and killed more than 1,100 in mainland China, with cases reported in more than 20 other countries.
