Big technology names like Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) announced Tuesday that they will be canceling their company's appearance at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain amid the coronavirus's continuous global spread.
A spokesperson from Facebook stated: "Out of an abundance of caution, Facebook employees won't be attending this year's Mobile World Congress due to the evolving public health risks related to coronavirus," with other companies releasing similar statements.
The annual tech conference, hosted by GSMA, typically attracts over 100,000 attendees from around 200 countries every February, with nearly every global telco and tech giant exhibiting. The GSMA represents 750 operators and another 350 firms in the mobile industry.
In addition, large names like LG, ZTE (OTC: ZTCOF), Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC), Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), Sony (NYSE: SNE), and TCL have all confirmed that they will not be attending the event in some form or another. While some of the companies have only canceled their press conferences, LG, Ericsson and Sony have all completely pulled out of the event, leaving large gaps in the schedule.
Sony, who often uses the trade show to reveal its more important new mobile devices, has announced that their conference will be showcased on their Xperia YouTube (NASDAQ: GOOGL) channel and Ericsson will show their new products at a series of local events called "Ericsson Unboxed."
Since the outbreak of the virus, many nations have imposed travel restrictions, especially for travelers coming to or from China. GSMA has announced that the organizer will increase the cleaning on site and provide better medical support on site, as well as a detailed list of other precautions being taken. In addition, no travelers from China's Hubei province will be permitted in the event, while anyone who has visited other regions of China will need to prove that they have been out of the country for at least 14 days.
"GSMA is building on its existing plans to protect the health of our attendees, clients, and staff at MWC Barcelona. GSMA colleagues around the world are taking strong measures to contain and lessen any further spread of the virus," the organization stated.
All companies that have cancelled their appearance at the event in some way include: Accedian, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Amdocs (NASDAQ: DOX), AppsFlyer, Arcep, AT&T (NYSE: T), Ciena (NYSE: CIEN), Cisco, CommScope (NASDAQ: COMM), Dali Wireless, Ericsson, F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV), Facebook, Gigaset, iconectiv, Intel, InterDigtial (NASDAQ: IDCC), Interop Technologies, KMW Communications, LG, MediaTek, NTT Docomo, Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), Radwin, Royole Corporation, Sony, Spirent, Sprint (NYSE: S), Telenor, Ulefone, Umidigi, Vivo, ZTE. However, Chinese companies Huawei, Xiaomi (OTC: XIACF) and Oppo have confirmed that they will be in attendance.
The World Health Organization announced that currently there have been over 40,000 people infected with the virus and over 1,000 recorded deaths. As more and more companies pullout of the event, many wonder if the event will be cancelled.
Update: Mobile World Congress has been cancelled. The GSMA stated: "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 event."
The article's title has been changed from "Will the Mobile World Congress Cancel Event Amid Coronavirus Concerns?" to "GSMA Cancels Mobile World Congress Due to Coronavirus Concerns" and removed the paragraph "GSMA has announced that it will hold a board meeting on Friday to discuss the possible cancellation of the event, which would affect hundreds of firms who plan releases with the February trade show in mind. As of Tuesday, the event is planned to be held on February 24-27."