The GSMA bought itself more time, announcing today that its flagship MWC Barcelona show will be postponed until June of next year.
The in-person MWC Barcelona will now take place between June 28 to July 1, 2021. And MWC Shanghai will happen from February 23–25, 2021.
The GSMA is hoping that both shows draw substantial in-person attendance. But it’s also hedging its bets, setting up a virtual aspect to the shows, as well.
Normally, this would be the time of year when exhibitors and conference attendees would be making their plans for MWC, which has historically taken place in Barcelona at the end of February each year. But analysts had speculated that there was little likelihood the conference could happen in February or March, 2021, since cases of Covid-19 have been on the upswing in Spain recently. Not to mention that many borders are closed to visitors from various countries.
RELATED: MWC21 in Barcelona still on as in-person event: GSMA
According to Mobile World Live, the publication associated with the GSMA, 78 of the 100 largest MWC exhibitors including Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia have already confirmed participation at MWC 21 Barcelona.
Ericsson was the first big vendor to drop out of MWC Barcelona 2020, which ultimately was canceled on February 12. MWC Los Angeles was also cancelled for 2020.
MWC Los Angeles is scheduled as a live event from October 26–28, 2021, and everyone’s crossing their fingers that Covid-19 will be just a bad memory by then.