MWC 2020 was supposed to take place from February 24th to 27th in Barcelona, Spain, but several brands pulled out of the show due to the fear of coronavirus. After a week of assuring exhibitioners and attendees and denying cancellation rumors, GSMA finally announced that this year’s show shall be canceled.
In their official statement, GSMA CEO John Hoffman said the coronavirus outbreak has made it impossible for GSMA to hold the show this year. He wrote:
This statement came in after a few days of GSMA sending a coronavirus-related email to registered attendees, in which they talked about the precautions and steps they’re taking to ensure the safety of everyone at the show. Despite this email though, many brands pulled out of the show. LG was the first to announce that it would skip the MWC 2020 and companies like HMD, Intel, Facebook, Ericcson, and Sony followed.
As these companies spend millions to host exhibitions and manage their teams, canceling the show altogether shall come as an unexpected financial blow for the GSMA. It’s still unclear though whether the pre-MWC show scheduled on Feb 22nd and 23rd shall happen or not. We shall update this post as we receive more information regarding it.
