Officially: MWC 2020 canceled (for the first time in 33 years) due to coronavirus outbreak

The largest international exhibition of the mobile industry Mobile World Congress, which was supposed to be held in Barcelona from February 24 to 27, was canceled after companies began to refuse to participate in it because of the threat of coronavirus. This decision was made by the GSM association, which is the organizer of the event.

Paying due attention to the safe and healthy environment in Barcelona and the host country, GSMA canceled the MWC Barcelona 2020 exhibition because global concerns about the outbreak of coronavirus, travel problems and other circumstances make it impossible to host the event. Host parties respect and understand this decision. GSMA and host countries will continue to collaborate and support each other in preparation for the MWC Barcelona 2021 and subsequent exhibitions. We express our sympathy to all those who have suffered in China and around the world.

says the official appeal of the head of GSMA John Hoffman (John Hoffman).

The organizers of the event tried to dispel fears with the help of recommendations published on the website, as well as enhanced measures such as a ban on visiting the exhibition to Wuhan residents, where the coronavirus was first discovered. But apparently this did not work. More than 20 companies refused to participate in MWC, including LG, ZTE, Ericsson, Sony, NVIDIA, Amazon, Vivo, Nokia, Intel and others. MWC is not only a chance for many companies to show their new products, thanks to the exhibition more than 14 thousand part-time jobs are created every year, and revenue reaches almost €500 million.

Source: itc.ua