GSMA Considers Canceling MWC 2020

After many major participants dropped out of this year’s Mobile World Congress 2020 (MWC) in Barcelona, GSMA, the group that organizes MWC is considering cancelling the entire event. According to La Vanguardia, GSMA will meet on February 14 to determine whether MWC 2020 will go ahead as scheduled.

SEE ALSO: MWC Barcelona Implements Safety Measures to Save Event Amid Coronavirus Fears

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, Amazon, Ericsson, Nvidia, LG, SONY and other big names in mobile technology have announced their withdrawal from this year’s MWC 2020 exhibition. ZTE, Samsung, TCL and other companies have also scaled back their activities. Per The Register, a number of smaller vendors have contacted them and claimed, off the record, that they’re giving MWC a miss this year.

GSMA has already announced a number of safety measures in face of the epidemic. For example, visitors from China’s Hubei province, the origin and center of the coronavirus outbreak, are banned from participating in the exhibition. Visitors who have been to China are required to prove that they have not been in China for 14 days before the start of the exhibition, and all personnel are subject to temperature tests.

Started in 2006, MWC Barcelona is world’s largest exhibition in the mobile industry. The event typically attracts more than 100,000 attendees, around 5% of which are expected to come from China.