Last year, the Mobile World Congress was canceled due to concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic and it appears that the tech conference will face similar issues this time as well with brands pulling out of the event.
Ericsson, one of the leading telecom equipment makers, has confirmed pulling out of the MWC 2021 and that move seems to have encouraged others to follow the suit. Now, Nokia has also confirmed not attending this year’s Mobile World Congress, becoming the second major telecom vendor to do so.
In a statement related to this development, the company said that “after careful consideration, Nokia has decided not to have a physical presence at Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2021. The health of our employees, customers and partners is of paramount importance to us. Given the international nature of the event and with the global vaccine rollout still in its early phases, we have made the considered decision to instead participate in only the virtual event.”
Apart from Ericsson and Nokia, other companies like Sony Mobile and Oracle have confirmed they won’t be present at the Mobile World Congress physically. The reasoning remains the same — they don’t want to put their employees and visitors at risk.
Last year, after many companies pulled out of the Mobile World Congress, GSMA officially cancelled the event. This time, there has not been any such communication so far and it’s unlikely that the MWC will get cancelled.
Recently, GSMA organized the Mobile World Congress in Shanghai in late February, which was an in-person event with several virtual panels and addresses. As per the estimates, around 17,000 people attended the event, without any positive COVID-19 diagnoses.
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