For days now, news has been circulating that more and more exhibitors are cancelling their participation in this year's MWC due to the coronavirus outbreak in China. If we look only at the companies with a mobile touch, a significant number have already cancelled their participation. Only big manufacturers like Huawei, Oppo and Xiaomi are left.
Although Xiaomi announced in a statement yesterday that it will continue to participate in the event, it will carry out strict controls on its own employees - who come from China - and will also pay close attention to hygiene. The organisers tried to calm the press with regular microphone exchanges and disinfected rooms, but the situation has now become untenable. Today they said that they would issue a statement on the fate of the event (whether or not it would go ahead) on Friday, but they didn't wait until then - the official statement came less than an hour ago:
GSMA statement on MWC Barcelona 2020: - John Hoffman CEO of GSMA Limited -
12 February 2020, Barcelona: at the first opening of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in 2006, the GSMA invited industry, governments, ministers, policy makers, operators and industry leaders from across the entire ecosystem.
Taking into account the safety and healthy environment of the inhabitants of Barcelona and the host (Spanish) country, the GSMA cancels MWC Barcelona 2020 event due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. Global concerns about travel and other circumstances make it impossible for the GSMA to host the event.
Host cities respect and understand this decision.
The GSMA and host city stakeholders/partners continue their work and are working on the preparation of MWC Barcelona 2021.
We sympathise with those affected (affected people, relatives) in China and around the world."
For more up-to-date information on the GSMA, please visit their website www.mwcbarcelona.com
So far, the coronavirus outbreak has killed more than 1,100 people in China after a new coronavirus called covid-19 infected more than 40,000 people. These numbers are increasing significantly every day. The WHO has declared the coronavirus a global health emergency. Several key MWC attendees had already informed the GSMA a week before the event that they would not be attending, citing the outbreak. Major vendors have postponed their presentations to a later date and a different venue. This left the GSMA with no choice but to cancel this year's tech show.
How Xiaomi intends to handle the global launch of the Mi 10 series will probably be decided tomorrow.
