Telecoms lobby GSMA will
hold a board meeting on Friday to discuss the possible cancellation of the
Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona after several big-name withdrawals
because of the coronavirus outbreak, an industry source said on Tuesday.
MWC 2020, scheduled to take place on Feb.
24-27, is the telecoms industry's biggest annual gathering, with companies
spending millions on stands and hospitality to fill their order books.
The world event was put in jeopardy after the
coronavirus outbreak, which has killed more than 1,000 people so far, mostly in
mainland China, prompted U.S. technology and telecoms heavyweights such as
Cisco Systems Inc, Sprint Corp and Facebook Inc to pull out.
A number of companies ranging from
Japan's NTT
Docomo and Sony Corp to U.S.
chipmakers Intel Corp and Nvidia had already dropped out of the four-day
international telecoms conference that draws in more than 100,000 visitors.
Adding to the concerns over the impact of the
epidemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned earlier on Tuesday of a
global threat potentially worse than terrorism.
A cancellation of the event would be a big blow
for Catalonia's capital city.
The congress usually gives a $500 million lift
to the local economy as delegates throng to the Fira trade fairgrounds, wine
and dine contacts and criss-cross Barcelona by taxi.
GSMA, which represents 750 operators and
another 350 firms in the mobile industry ranging from Germanys Deutsche Telekom
to China's Huawei, hosts the congress.
Its board is composed of 26 leaders of some of
the world's biggest telecoms groups and is currently chaired by Stephane
Richard, the CEO of Orange, France's biggest phone company.
In the event of a full cancellation of the
event, the financial liability for the organisers may depend on whether the
Spanish government changes its health advice on the coronavirus.
Spain's health minister Salvador Illa told
reporters on Tuesday that there is no public health reason for the event not to
be carried out.
Illa added that additional health measures
related to the MWC could be announced on Wednesday. GSMA did not respond to
requests seeking comment.
