Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
Cisco are the latest to pull out of exhibiting at #MWC2021, joining Sony, Nokia, Facebook, Oracle and Ericsson (who were the first to pull out).
A Cisco spokesperson wrote in an email to SDxCentral, we quote “We have made the decision to withdraw from participating in-person at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona due to ongoing concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic”.
Ericsson, Sony and Nokia are regular GSMA exhibitors and a big loss. All firms have cited safety concerns.
Although Nokia is not now going to attend the event in person, it has said that it expects to be present virtually. We quote “We understand that GSMA is planning a variety of online activities and we look forward to working together with them to understand how we can participate”.
Sony Mobile has stressed that “as the world increasingly shifts towards digital and online opportunities to prevent the spread of Covid-19, Sony Mobile will communicate in a way that can deliver exciting news about its products to a wider audience”.
A spokesperson for Facebook said “Following our policy of risk prevention and health protection, we will not attend MWC 2021 in person, although we will seek opportunities to participate virtually”.
These early withdrawals are reminiscent of 12 months ago when early cancellations caused a domino effect with dozens of other exhibitors pulling out before #MWC2020 was eventually cancelled.
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