Nokia and HMD Global are officially out of MWC 2020

The Mobile World Congress conversation is typically about which companies are attending, but this year the coronavirus outbreak is taking its toll on things and there are more people talking about who isn’t going.

New Nokia phones won't debut in Barcelona after all

Massive names including Amazon, Ericsson, Facebook, Intel, LG, and Sony have all withdrawn over health concerns in recent days. Now, Finnish companies Nokia and HMD Global have announced their decision to pull out of the Barcelona event.

Nokia is responsible for much of the equipment used in 4G LTE and 5G networks across the globe and is arguably one of the most important exhibitors at MWC. Its decision to bow out will come as a massive blow to organizers and makes a cancelation even more likely.

HMD Global, on the other hand, is the company behind recent Nokia-branded smartphones. It originally scheduled a press conference for Sunday, February 23, but has taken the decision to cancel it over health concerns.

Expected to make an appearance at MWC 2020 were the Nokia 8.2 5G, Nokia 5.2, and Nokia 1.3. HMD still plans to showcase these upcoming devices and will share details about its new plans soon.

One of MWC 2020's backbones is also out

Joining these two companies on the list of withdrawals is Deutsche Telekom, the company behind T-Mobile. It’s one of four primary network operators in Europe and is considered to be one of MWC’s backbones.

The company’s decision to pull out will put even more pressure on the GSM Association to cancel MWC 2020 entirely, or at least postpone the gathering.