MWC 2020 officially cancelled

It’s official. There won’t be any Mobile World Congress (MWC) event happening in Barcelona this year. 

The organizers of the event, GSMA, have sent out a statement earlier today to announce the sad news. The much anticipated tech conference was originally scheduled to take place in Barcelona on the end of February. But because of the ongoing travel precautions brought about by the Coronavirus, the event will not be happening. 

This decision follows after several manufacturers pulled out of the event due to the health risks. The organizers cited that their main reason for cancelling the event was because of public health concern. But with so many manufacturers that have already pulled out, it looks like there aren't enough participants. 

Among those that have already cancelled include Sony, LG, Amazon, Nokia, Ericsson, HMD, Vivo, and Facebook. Not to mention, the telecom giants have also backed out for safety concerns. The list includes AT&T, NTT Docomo, Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, and Orange. 

Now that the MWC 2020 has been cancelled, the GSMA plans to focus their efforts on two upcoming events slated later in the year for MWC Shanghai and MWC Los Angeles. This means that the organizers have decided to completely skip out rather than postponing this year’s event. They will return to Barcelona next year for MWC 2021. 

You can read the full report here.