Earlier this month, news arrived that the MWC 2020 (Mobile World Congress) which is held in Barcelona has been canceled. The reason for this was the recent Coronavirus epidemic that has devastated China and is causing a massive financial cost to be incurred for the canceled event.
For those unaware, China is witnessing the outbreak of a new breed of Coronavirus. The infection is highly contagious and has killed an estimated 1,669 people until now. The virus is known to cause pneumonia and originated from the Wuhan city in China. As of right now, a handful number of cases have also been confirmed worldwide and have since been a reason for high alert in other nations apart from just China as well.
The GSMA, the organizer behind the MWC 2020 event, is now discussing MWC events for Shanghai and Los Angeles. These are the other locations that also hold the event and take place later during the year. Furthermore, GSMA has already posted about the upcoming MWC 2021 event as well, which is stated to be held from March 1st to March 4th next year.
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After the decision to cancel the MWC event in Barcelona arrived, the organizer has seemingly taken a heavy loss. According to reports, the GSMA is even asking tech firms and other telecom operators’ help to cushion the sizable financial blow that it has witnessed. Since the event was canceled quite near the event dates, OEMs had already prepared and bought booths to promote their respective products whilst hotel rooms and other forms of accommodations had already been reserved as well. Even tickets to the event have also been sold too, and it is yet unclear if refunds will be handed out.
The Director General of GSMA, Mats Granryd, has stated that “We’re looking for solidarity and everybody bearing their own costs, Granryd said on Friday. “We’re an NGO (non-governmental organization) and we don’t make a profit. We don’t have huge amounts of funds, and all our proceeds are funneled back into the industry.” In other words, the organizer wishes for companies to manage the cost already incurred internally since the event isn’t made for profit, rather, to ensure that another event is held later down the road.
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(Via)
