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| After LG's withdrawal ... GSMA confirms that MWC 2020 will not be canceled |
Organizers of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this month: After LG withdrew from the meeting due to the Corona virus, even Chinese companies confirmed their participation in the meeting and the meeting will continue as expected.
Since the World Health Organization announced that the Corona virus epidemic is an urgent public health event of international concern, it has attracted this mobile conference and monitored more than 100,000 visitors to Barcelona every year.
A GSMA spokesperson responded to a Reuters survey in South Korea, saying, "We talked to LG and unfortunately we didn't see it at MWC20 in Barcelona this year."
GSMA is an industry association representing more than 750 telecom operators and 400 companies in the mobile communications industry. The company added that the impact on the event has been minimal so far, and the event will happen on February 24 and 27, as scheduled.
A known new coronavirus, first appearing in Wuhan, China, at the end of last year, killed nearly 500 people in Hong Kong and the Philippines. The Chinese mainland has reported more than 24,000 confirmed cases of the virus, and more than 150 cases have been confirmed in more than 20 countries and regions around the world.
Chinese company Huawei announced on Wednesday that it will attend MWC 2020 as planned. "We are closely monitoring things and need to make responsible internal adjustments accordingly," his spokesman said.
ZTE and OPPO said they would continue their business plans, while NEC, which provides IT services, said they were actively participating.
According to the GSMA report released after the conference, about 6% of the participants in the 2019 Mobile World Congress come from China. Most of the participants came from Europe and represented nearly 64%.
GSMA estimates that last year's World Mobile Congress boosted Barcelona's local economy by 470 million euros ($ 520 million).