The Global Mobile Communications Systems Association (GSMA), the organizer of the World Mobile Communications Conference (MWC) in 2020, said on Wednesday that it has decided to refund some of the fees for MWC exhibitors.
MWC is the largest exhibition in the global telecommunications industry. It was originally planned to be held in Barcelona, Spain, from February 24 to 27, 2020. However, affected by the new coronavirus epidemic, GSMA announced on February 13 that it would cancel the 2020 MWC conference.
As for the fees, GSMA later stated in an email to the exhibitors that the current situation of GSMA is unprecedented and it cannot be insured. Therefore, it is unavoidable to spend some time assessing the full impact and agreeing on a solution.
GSMA also said at the time that it was expected to give a plan by March 31, 2020 at the latest.
In February, GSMA sent an e-mail to exhibitors: "Because of force majeure, we will not provide any Refund. "
But today, in order not to arouse public anger and ensure the future of MWC, GSMA changed its attitude and decided to refund some of the fees to the exhibitors.
However, GSMA also emphasized that this is only a good faith move and refunds are not the responsibility of GSMA.
According to the latest GSMA decision, tickets for all attendees will be refunded, and for customers who spend less than £ 5,000, they can choose a full refund or 125% points (available within the next three years). Exhibitors who spend more than 5,000 pounds will receive half of the paid fees, up to 150,000 pounds, or choose 125% points.
The expenses mentioned here include the exhibitor's up-front MWC marketing expenses, transportation expenses, accommodation expenses, as well as the cost of building display equipment and manufacturing prototypes.
In addition, as a further goodwill, GSMA has also decided that the price of participation at the MWC 2021 will be the same as 2019. It should be noted that cash refunds are limited to exhibitors who have not announced their withdrawal before the event is officially cancelled (announced on February 13).
Before GSMA announced the cancellation of MWC, Intel, LG, Ericsson, NVIDIA, Amazon and Sony have all announced their withdrawals.
GSMA CEO John Hoffman concluded: "We want to thank members and partners for their support and the full support of the operator's board. In this difficult time, we are more sincere with the world than ever before. Affected people everywhere. "
