One of tech’s biggest events is set to be in person this year. Large companies are already jumping

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The GSMA trading group announced plans on Monday to hold a personal Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in June – and a string of high-profile companies, including Ericsson and Sony, have already said they won’t be attending.

Now GSMA is trying again, in what could be a test run for the return of major, in-person tech events.

This year will likely be different, now that organizers have a year’s worth of knowledge about the virus and many countries have begun rolling out vaccinations. (Last year, before the event was canceled, safety plans included health checks, additional cleaning, and banning visitors who had visited China in the past two weeks.)

The group released a detailed health and safety plan for the event on Monday. This year’s attendees must, among other things, wear masks, comply with social distance rules, participate in temperature checks, and pass a negative Covid-19 test to access the venue. In recent years, the Mobile World Congress has received more than 100,000 attendees, and only about half of that number is expected at the 2021 event. It will also complement the event with virtual components.
Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Mobile World Capital Barcelona in July, where the group has committed to holding the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona until 2024.

Answer ‘no’

Despite those health precautions, some will likely be wary of attending an event with tens of thousands in attendance at a time when the pandemic remains a threat and concerns about Covid-19 variants have increased.

Swedish telecom giant Ericsson ERIC was the first to announce not to participate this week.

“Given the ongoing impact of Covid-19 and our primary focus on our people, their health and wellbeing, we have decided not to participate in MWC 2021,” Ericsson said in a statement. “The decision, while regrettable, reflects our precautionary approach to managing the pandemic from a people and travel perspective as vaccination programs are rolled out globally.”

The company said it is looking forward to “the opportunity to participate in future events again.”

Sony SNE followed quickly. As the world “shifts to digital and online capabilities to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Sony Mobile will communicate in ways that can deliver our exciting product news to a wider audience,” he said.
Nokia ENOUGH and Facebook FB Wednesday joined the chorus, both said they will participate virtually, but will not be physically present at the event. Facebook last year enacted a policy that its employees would not attend in-person events until June 2021.

“The health of our employees, customers and partners is our top priority,” Nokia said in a statement. “Given the international nature of the event and as the global rollout of vaccines is still in its infancy, we made the informed decision to only participate in the virtual event instead.”

Pekka Lundmark, CEO of Nokia, is listed as a keynote speaker on the Mobile World Congress 2021 website. It is not clear whether the company’s decision not to attend in person will affect that plan.
Various other companies, including Cisco CSCO and Intel INTC, told CNN Business that they are still weighing up options for participating.

GSMA clearly saw something of it coming: In Monday’s announcement, the group said that this year’s Mobile World Congress will be a hybrid event, with online portions for those who are uncomfortable attending in person.

“We respect the decisions made by a handful of exhibitors and look forward to welcoming all companies back to Barcelona for future editions of MWC,” a GSMA spokesperson said in a statement to CNN Business Wednesday.

“We understand that not everyone can attend MWC Barcelona 2021. That’s why we’ve developed a leading virtual event platform that ensures everyone can enjoy the unique MWC experience.”

The return of personal conferences

Virtually major technical conferences and product launch events have been held over the past year. While visitors miss the networking opportunities that come with roaming the floor of a large exhibition hall, industry experts point out that the online format allows more people from around the world to attend. Large technology companies may be more exposed to potential new customers from areas that are typically under-served.
A personal conference can be especially valuable to the wireless industry amid the massive shift from 4G LTE network technology to the next generation of 5G. That change requires coordination between different countries and many different types of technology companies.

GSMA has highlighted the success of a conference it held in Shanghai last week, involving 25,000 in-person attendees and 175,000 virtual visitors.

“The support from our partners, exhibitors, board and local businesses was encouraging and everyone contributed to creating a safe environment by adhering to security measures,” GSMA Director General Mats Granryd said in a statement from the event Monday. in Shanghai. “I’m now looking forward to MWC21 Barcelona; it’s time to bring the mobile ecosystem together personally.”

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