The biggest annual event for the wireless industry has been cancelled amid coronavirus fears.
The largest mobile conference in the world, which has run for 33 years without a hitch, has been called off after a myriad of major exhibitor dropouts, stemming from the virus outbreak.
Now named COVID-19, the virus has infected more than 45,000 people and claimed over 1,100 lives since it's discovery in Wuhan in December of last year.
With so many of the industry’s products manufactured in China, these fears do seem to be grounded. Even mobile giants, the like of Apple have been forced to suspend production of their products.
Historically, MWC draws more than 100,000 participants from across the world to see the industry’s latest innovations and pitch to investors.
In a statement to Bloomberg News, chief executive officer of the conference, John Hoffman stated that, “the global concern regarding the coronavirus outbreak, travel concerns and other circumstances, make it impossible to hold the event.”
Big names began pulling out of the event from February 7th, when Ericsson AB cited safety concerns for their staff and customers. Sony, Nokia, Vodafone Group and Deutsche Telekom followed suit.
While the organisers attempted to keep the event running by upping sanitary precautions, with so many major players withdrawing, it was difficult to justify going ahead with the conference.
In the wake of the cancellation, who will be left to shoulder the bill is still up in the air.
Anula Wiwatowska
Offsite Editorial Lead | Instagram
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