Earlier this month, many telecom and tech companies dropped their plans to exhibit in the Mobile World Congress, which is going to be held in Barcelona. The drop out lists continues to long as the fear of coronavirus outbreak by the GSMA. However, the event organizers say that the event, MWC 2020, will happen in any case from February 24 to February 27 this year.
China-based company TCL canceled its plan to participate in the MWC event. They said, “out of an abundance of caution and care for our staff, customers, press and other guests,” we are not attending the event. Further, the company said that its other activities would go on as planned.
The leading performance analytics and end-user experience solutions company – Accedian – announced that they are backing up from the MWC mega event due to the coronavirus. The CEO of the company, Dion Joannou, said that after careful consideration, we had taken the decision to withdraw from MWC 2020. This is not a decision taken lightly”.
Recently Amazon also canceled its plans for MWC this year. The spokesperson said that “due to the outbreak and continued concerns about the novel coronavirus, Amazon will withdraw from exhibiting and participating in MWC 2020”.
A software providing company, Amdocs, downslide its plan for the event. “While we appreciate the precautionary measures put into place by the GSMA, we believe the safest option is not to attend MWC 2020 in Barcelona”, said the CEO – Shuky Sheffer.
The company that redefined the future of wired and wireless communication – CommScope – has also announced that the company will not attend the event this year. The company says that the well being of our employees has always been their priority, and with the continued global threat of the coronavirus, CommScope decides not to go in the event.
California-based chip giant company – Intel – refused to join MWC starting at the mid-end of February. Another U.S. based chipmaker Nvidia had also stepped back from their plans to join MWC.
LG also decides to skip MWC this time, saying they are not coming to the event “due to the safety of its employees, partners, and customers foremost in the mind”.
Sony wrote in a press release that “we have taken the difficult decision to withdraw from exhibiting and participating at MWC 2020 in Barcelona, Spain”.
After an investigation and extensive risk assessment, Erricson also decided to step back from MWC in order to take precautionary measures.
Other companies that dropped their plans for this mega event include Ciena, Dali Wireless, iconectiv, InterDigital, Media Tek, NTT Docomo, Ulefone, Umidigi, Viber, and Vivo.
As per GSMA, 2400+ companies are exhibiting this year in the Mobile World Congress event. For this, GSMA has promised all the safety measures as they are imposing a rule that all travelers who have been in China will need to demonstrate proof they have been outside of, coronavirus hit country, China 14 days prior to the event.
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