The annual global event ‘Mobile World Congress’ has been cancelled in the light of health concerns raised by the outbreak of coronavirus. The event is organized by the GSM Association, a global telecom industry body and takes place every year in Barcelona, Spain.
The event sees active participation from governments, operators, policymakers, industry leaders and ministers from across the world to discuss technology developments.
In a statement by GSMA, they cited the reason for cancelling ‘MWC 2020 Barcelona’ is the outbreak of the virus and the travel concerns it raises for them to host in Barcelona. The event has also seen pull out from some of its sponsors and exhibitors due to rising concern of the spread of Coronavirus. Vodafone, Vivo, Sony, Amazon, Facebook, Cisco, etc are some companies that have refrained from participating in the event.
Before the announcement of cancelling the event entirely, the industry body was debating on implementing health measures for Chinese vendors and participants. They were planning to have their Chinese attendees stay in a two-week quarantine before they come for the event. However, Chinese company Huawei said they will only send their European executives to attend the event.
Nevertheless, due to travel concern for most attendees and sponsors pulling out, MWC 2020 has been officially cancelled.
MWC is an event that is particularly targeted for the mobile communications industry and has around 100,000 attendees each year. This conference also becomes a platform for mobile phone manufacturers to launch or tease about their new devices.