In the light of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus outbreak, GSMA has decided to cancel its upcoming Mobile World Congress 2020 trade show that was scheduled for late February.

John Hoffman, CEO of GSMA, said that the outbreak had made it impossible to hold the event.

The statement from Mr. Hoffman reads as follows:

12 February 2020, Barcelona: Since the first edition of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in 2006, the GSMA has convened the industry, governments, ministers, policymakers, operators and industry leaders across the broader ecosystem.

With due regard to the safe and healthy environment in Barcelona and the host country today, the GSMA has cancelled 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. Further updates from the GSMA, are on our website and can be found on www.mwcbarcelona.com.

In the recent days multiple companies decided not to attend the trade show because of the novel coronavirus. The list of companies that decided to pull the plug contains major names on the technology world, including such giants as AT&T, Amazon, BT, Ericsson, Deutsche Telekom, Cisco, Intel, Facebook, HMD Global, Nokia, LG, Sprint, Verizon, Sony, MediaTek, Royole, Marvell, Volvo, NVIDIA, Marvell, McAfee, Sprint, Rakuten, Western Digital, and Vivo. ZTE and TCL had cancelled the press events, but were still planning on attending. Without multiple major companies on board, the show would have lost much of its value to the attendees, so the cancellation makes sense even from this point of view.

GSMA initially wanted the government of Catalonia to call a medical emergency in the state, which would have allowed the organizer to claim insurance, but the mayor of Barcelona refused to because there were no cases of 2019-nCoV in the area.

This is a breaking news. We are adding details as we get them.

Source: Quick Take by Bloomberg

Source: AnandTech – Mobile World Congress 2020 Cancelled