MWC Barcelona Is Canceled for the First Time in 33 Years Due to an Outbreak of the Coronavirus

The decision to cancel the largest annual trade show – Mobile World Congress – for the first time in its 33-year history will significantly affect business activity around the world.

The organizers of the exhibition, the association of mobile operators GSMA Limited, planned that the decision whether to hold the show would be made on February 14. But late at night on February 12, the CEO of GSMA announced about the cancellation of MWC 2020.

The MWC trade show was supposed to work from February 24 to 27, attracting about 100,000 people to Barcelona. It is the industry’s most significant opportunity to showcase the latest gadgets and software to customers from around the world. Wireless equipment providers use MWC to close deals with their largest customers.

Also, thanks to the exhibition, more than 14 thousand part-time jobs are created every year, and revenue reaches almost €500 million.

In recent days, GSMA has stepped up sanitary precautions to reassure visitors by introducing body temperature scanners and a microphone change protocol, as well as restricting entry from China. But this was not enough to reassure many participants.

More than 20 companies refused to participate in MWC, including LG, ZTE, Ericsson, Sony, NVIDIA, Amazon, Vivo, Nokia, Intel, and others.