Mobile World Congress Cancellation: A Sudden Decision

With so many exhibitors from different leading companies pulling out of MWC, it left no choice but for the organizers to cancel this event. In such an unprecedented decision, MWC20 is no more.

Mobile World Congress, one of the biggest mobile phone shows in the world has been abruptly canceled due to the widespread threat posed by the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-NCov).

In a recent statement by John Hoffman, CEO of GSMA, he said that with the alarming threats of the coronavirus outbreak, it has made it impossible for them to proceed with the event as planned.

"With due regard to the safe and healthy environment in Barcelona and the host country today, the GSMA has canceled MWC Barcelona 2020 because the global concern regarding the coronavirus outbreak, travel concern and other circumstances, make it impossible for the GSMA to hold the event. The Host City Parties respect and understand this decision.

The GSMA and the Host City Parties will continue to be working in unison and supporting each other for MWC Barcelona 2021 and future editions. Our sympathies at this time are with those affected in China, and all around the world."

In the most recent statistics by Worldometers, there are a total of 1,369 individuals who have died from the Novel Coronavirus outbreak as of February 13, 2020. At the time of this writing, there are already 60,379 confirmed cases in 28 different countries with China at the top with 59,810 confirmed cases and 1,367 deaths and dubbed as the country of origin.

Although the GSMA committee has tried to alleviate the increasing fear rate of all attendees, they failed to hold down the big companies to pull out. They even recommended not to make handshakes and made the decision to ban all visitors from China.

A month earlier, LG pulled out of MWC, followed by one of the largest and most anticipated exhibitors at MWC — Ericsson. Nvidia, Intel, Vivo, Sony, Amazon, and NTT Docomo all followed suit.

However, despite these unfortunate series of events, New Media Services will still be heading to Barcelona to meet with our clients and potential customers. Embodied by our Solutions Directors, Joey Gabra and Anastasiia Bilous, New Media Services will still be present in Barcelona and more than keen to chat and grab a drink with other professionals who will be in town. Catch them between February 24 - 27, 2020 or better yet, book a meeting with them!

We hope to see you there!