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* GSMA board to convene at 1300 GMT - sources
* European operators pull out, decimating key telecoms event
* Withdrawals due to risks from coronavirus outbreak
(Releads with GSMA convening board)
By Isla Binnie, Mathieu Rosemain and Douglas Busvine
MADRID/PARIS/BERLIN, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Organisers of the
Mobile World Congress (MWC) will decide on Wednesday whether to
cancel the event, two sources said, after several major European
telecom companies pulled out due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Deutsche Telekom, Orange and BT
ditched the event, along with Finnish network equipment maker
Nokia, according to sources and official statements,
leaving the Barcelona event without some of its main backers.
The GSMA industry association that organises the conference
was due to hold a 'virtual' meeting of its board, consisting of
25 industry bosses, at 1300 GMT to discuss its options,
according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
"They have to cancel," said a source with one exhibitor that
has decided to pull out.
The telecom industry's biggest get together, scheduled for
Feb. 24-27, typically draws more than 100,000 visitors to
Barcelona. By the GSMA's own estimate it gives a lift of around
half a billion dollars to the local economy.
The GSMA has been silent since saying last Sunday it planned
to go ahead with the event, while tightening health precautions
to guard against the coronavirus that has killed more than 1,000
people in China since breaking out last month.
A source close to the organisation said it was preparing a
statement.
Barcelona's city authorities and the Spanish government have
repeatedly stated that it would be safe for travellers to
attend. The coronavirus has caused fatalities in around 2% of
reported cases from pneumonia or multiple organ failure.
That failed, however, to alleviate concerns among other
exhibitors that the precautions would be insufficient to halt
the virus that has spread beyond China's borders to two dozen
countries.
In a statement, Nokia said it believed it was a "prudent
decision" to cancel its participation.
"Nokia plans to go directly to customers with a series
of “Nokia Live” events aimed at showcasing the industry-leading
demos and launches scheduled for MWC," the Finnish company said
in a statement, setting out its alternative plans.
MOBILE CHINA CONGRESS?
Major Chinese exhibitors, led by Huawei, had vowed
to attend, ordering at-risk staff to isolate themselves and
drafting in replacements from elsewhere to staff event stands
and network with clients.
The GSMA had banned attendees from China's Hubei province,
where the coronavirus outbreak began, and required others to
prove that they had been outside the country for at least two
weeks prior to the event.
Coronavirus has proved to be contagious even when people who
have caught it are asymptomatic, meaning that people attending
the MWC might not even realise that they could infect others
they meet there.
Reconstructing meetings and movements across the Fira trade
grounds and the city of Barcelona of anyone who later tests
positive would be a difficult task.
In China, total infections have hit 44,653, health officials
said, including 2,015 new confirmed cases. The number of deaths
on the mainland rose by 97 to 1,113 by the end of Tuesday.
(Writing by Douglas Busvine; Additional reporting by Supantha
Mukherjee, Tarmo Virki, Joan Faus, Can Sezer; editing by Keith
Weir and Elaine Hardcastle)
