World's top mobile conference cancelled due to coronavirus

Event called off after tech majors decide not to show

A banner of MWC20 (Mobile World Congress) is pictured at a bus stop along a street in Barcelona, Spain. REUTERS/Nacho Doce

Organisers of the World Mobile Congress have cancelled the world's top mobile trade fair because of fears of the coronavirus.

The mobile fair is one of the biggest events worldwide to be cancelled so far owing to the virus that has killed more than 1,100 people to date.

The announcement came after the GSMA, the mobile trade association and congress organiser, met to decide the fate of the event that had been planned to run in Barcelona from February 24 to 27.

"The GSMA has cancelled MWC Barcelona 2020 because the global concern regarding the coronavirus outbreak, travel concern and other circumstances," the association said.

It said the decision was made with "due regard to the safe and healthy environment in Barcelona and the host country".

Just hours before the meeting took place, Vodafone, Nokia, Deutsche Telekom, Britain's BT and Rakuten of Japan had pulled out, following Intel, Facebook, Cisco and China's Vivo.

A source close to the event said that organisers were wary of being left with a cancellation bill of up to €100 million (about Dh400m).

They faced resistance from authorities about declaring a health emergency in Spain, which would allow insurance to cover the costs.

So far, Spain has only registered two confirmed cases of infection, on offshore islands.

The annual congress normally draws more than 100,000 people, including between 5,000 and 6,000 participants from China, organisers say.

But this year, participation was hit hard by the viral outbreak, which has infected around 44,600 people.

The cancellations began on February 4 when South Korea's LG  Electronics, which occupies one of the largest spaces at the show, said it was pulling out to "remove the risk of exposing hundreds of LG employees to international travel as the virus continues to spread across borders".

With the exception of Apple, most major smartphone makers present their new products and innovations at the congress.

Before the cancellation, China's top smartphone maker Huawei and its smaller rival ZTE had pledged their executives and staff would undergo a self-imposed, two-week quarantine.

ZTE said its stand and equipment would be disinfected daily.

The organisers sought to reassure exhibitors, saying they would step up security measures, impose restrictions on visitors from China and have staff on hand to take visitors' temperatures.

But the trickle of withdrawals quickly turned into dozens of companies pulling out.

Regional Health Minister Alba Verges tried in vain to reassure participants on Wednesday, saying that the only epidemic in Barcelona "is an epidemic of fear".