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64-563: MWC Barcelona (formerly but still commonly referred to as Mobile World Congress ) is an annual trade show dedicated to the mobile communications industry. The event is held in Barcelona , Spain, at the Fira de Barcelona Gran Via, usually in February or early March. It is attended primarily by device manufacturers, network equipment providers , representatives of wireless carriers , and

128-410: A $ 10 billion credit line with China Development Bank to provide low-cost financing to customers buying its telecommunications equipment to support its sales outside of China. This line of credit was tripled to $ 30 billion in 2009. In 2005, Huawei's foreign contract orders exceeded its domestic sales for the first time. Huawei signed a global framework agreement with Vodafone . This agreement marked

192-403: A PCR test or vaccination certificate to take part in congress. At the 2023 Mobile World Congress, companies including Huawei and Qualcomm discussed the future of 5G-Advanced , or 5.5G technology. At the 2024 Mobile World Congress, Lenovo unveiled the world's first transparent laptop. In 2015, GSMA's Mobile Asia Expo was renamed Mobile World Congress Shanghai . In 2016, CTIA announced

256-615: A Research Fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, asked Huawei for a response to the Balding and Clarke paper; the "information provided by Huawei gives an indication of how difficult it is to run an independent company in such a crucial sector in China". After the publication of Balding and Clarke's paper, Huawei has "engaged in a PR blitz to manufacture an image of a transparent company". Academic Toshio Goto of

320-562: A consultant and lobbyist, with a goal of nurturing the company's relationship with the Biden administration . Huawei has also hired public relations firms Ruder Finn , Wavemaker , Racepoint Global, and Burson Cohn & Wolfe for various campaigns. In January 2024, Bloomberg News reported that Huawei ended its in-house lobbying operations in Washington, D.C. According to its CEO and founder Ren Zhengfei, Huawei's corporate culture

384-428: A domestic Chinese telecommunications company that could compete with, and ultimately replace, foreign competitors. During its first several years the company's business model consisted mainly of reselling private branch exchange (PBX) switches imported from Hong Kong. Meanwhile, it was reverse-engineering imported switches and investing heavily in research and development to manufacture its own technologies. By 1990

448-550: A genuine collective is doubtful." Huawei's position has shifted in 2019 when, Dr. Song Liuping, Huawei's chief legal officer, commented on the US government ban, said: "Politicians in the US are using the strength of an entire nation to come after a private company ." (emphasis added). Ren Zhengfei is the founder and CEO of Huawei and has the power to veto any decisions made by the board of directors. Huawei also has rotating co-CEOs. Huawei disclosed its list of board of directors for

512-648: A hack on Australia 's telecom networks was conducted by or through Huawei, although the two network operators have disputed that information. In January 2018, the United States alleged that its sanctions against Iran were violated by Huawei, which was subsequently restricted from doing business with American companies. The US government also requested the extradition of Huawei's chief financial officer from Canada. In June 2019, Huawei cut jobs at its Santa Clara research center, and in December Ren said it

576-468: A large number of vendors announced plans to withdraw from the then-upcoming show, tentatively scheduled for 24–27 February, due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic (magnified by the strong Chinese presence in the telecom industry). This included major vendors and operators such as Deutsche Telekom , Ericsson , Intel , LG , Nokia , STMicroelectronics , Vivo , and Vodafone . On 11 February 2020, it

640-638: A meeting with General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Jiang Zemin , telling him that "switching equipment technology was related to national security, and that a nation that did not have its own switching equipment was like one that lacked its own military." Jiang reportedly agreed with this assessment. In the 1990s, Canadian telecom giant Nortel outsourced production of their entire product line to Huawei. They subsequently outsourced much of their product engineering to Huawei as well. Another major turning point for

704-633: A new city each time, passing through Nice , Berlin, Lisbon, Athens, and Madrid, before setting in 1996 in Cannes . The event was held in Cannes for ten consecutive years, with the name evolving to 3GSM World Congress from 2003. In 2006, the event moved to Barcelona, held at the Fira de Barcelona Montjuïc. In 2008 the GSM Association, which had been formed in 1996 and had taken an increasing interest in

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768-478: A partnership with GSMA to replace its annual Super Mobility trade show for the U.S. wireless industry with Mobile World Congress Americas, beginning 2017. The event was first held in San Francisco , before moving to Los Angeles for 2018. Trade fair In contrast to consumer shows, only some trade shows are open to the public, while others can only be attended by company representatives (members of

832-402: A profit-sharing incentive scheme" that "has nothing to do with financing or control". They found that, after a few stages of historical morphing, employees do not own a part of Huawei through their shares. Instead, the "virtual stock is a contract right, not a property right; it gives the holder no voting power in either Huawei Tech or Huawei Holding, cannot be transferred, and is cancelled when

896-409: A wide range of telecom software. In May 2003, Huawei partnered with 3Com on a joint venture known as H3C, which was focused on enterprise networking equipment. It marked 3Com's re-entrance into the high-end core routers and switch market, after having abandoned it in 2000 to focus on other businesses. 3Com bought out Huawei's share of the venture in 2006 for US$ 882 million. In 2004, Huawei signed

960-463: A year, usually at geographically particularly favorable locations and in conjunction with a religious festival in order to benefit from the rush of the public. The tradition of fairs taking place in spring and autumn has been preserved in some cases until today. From the late eighteenth century, industrial exhibitions in Europe and North America became more common reflecting the technological dynamism of

1024-465: Is Zhou Daiqi who is also Huawei's Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary . Their chief legal officer is Song Liuping. At its founding in 1987, Huawei was established as a collectively-owned enterprise. Collectively-owned enterprises were an intermediary corporate ownership status between state-owned enterprises and private businesses. The Chinese government began issuing licenses for private businesses starting in 1992. Huawei states it

1088-471: Is a Chinese multinational conglomerate technology corporation headquartered in Longgang District , Shenzhen , Guangdong province . It designs, develops, manufactures and sells digital telecommunications equipment , consumer electronics , smart devices , distributed operating systems , electric vehicle autonomous driving systems , and various rooftop solar products. The corporation

1152-623: Is a private company owned collectively by its employees and is neither owned nor controlled directly by the Chinese government. Academics Steve Tsang and Olivia Cheung write that Huawei is a private company. Likewise, academics Simon Curtis and Ian Klaus write that Huawei is not state-owned, but is a private company which the Chinese government views as a national champion. In 2021, Huawei did not report its ultimate beneficial ownership in Europe as required by European anti- money laundering laws. In July 2021, Huawei hired Tony Podesta as

1216-422: Is an employee-owned company , but this remains a point of dispute. Ren Zhengfei retains approximately 1 percent of the shares of Huawei's holding company, Huawei Investment & Holding, with the remainder of the shares held by a trade union committee (not a trade union per se, and the internal governance procedures of this committee, its members, its leaders or how they are selected all remain undisclosed to

1280-506: Is now installed on over 900 million devices and has become the second most popular mobile OS in China. Huawei classifies itself as a " collective " entity and prior to 2019 did not refer to itself as a private company. Richard McGregor , author of The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers , said that this is "a definitional distinction that has been essential to the company's receipt of state support at crucial points in its development". McGregor argued that "Huawei's status as

1344-449: Is the same as the culture of the CCP, "and to serve the people wholeheartedly means to be customer-centric and responsible to society." Ren frequently states that Huawei's management philosophy and strategy are commercial applications of Maoism . Ren states that in the event of a conflict between Huawei's business interests and the CCP's interests, he would "choose the CCP whose interest

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1408-499: The Industrial Revolution . In the late 19th century, the concept of annual industry-wide trade shows gained traction, spreading from European manufacturing centers to North America. By the 20th century, specialized companies came into existence simply to manage the trade-show industry, and permanent trade show grounds or convention centres were established as venues that featured a rotating calendar of trade shows. In

1472-597: The Japan University of Economics has disagreed with Balding and Clarke's assessment of Huawei employee shareholders’ ownership. Goto writes that the Huawei's ownership structure is a function of its formation amid the Chinese reforms, with the only mechanism for concentrating employee ownership under Shenzen's 1997 Provisions on State-owned Company Employee Stock Option Plans being to do so via Huawei's trade union. In contrast to Balding and Clarke, Goto writes that

1536-566: The Middle East . It has become the most important Chinese telecommunications company operating in these regions. In 1997, Huawei won a contract to provide fixed-line network products to Hong Kong company Hutchison Whampoa . Later that year, Huawei launched wireless GSM -based products and eventually expanded to offer CDMA and UMTS . In 1999, the company opened a research and development (R&D) centre in Bengaluru , India to develop

1600-700: The United States . The company has faced difficulties in some countries arising from concerns that its equipment may enable surveillance by the Chinese government due to perceived connections with the country's military and intelligence agencies. Huawei has argued that critics such as the US government have not shown evidence of espionage . Experts say that China's 2014 Counter-Espionage Law and 2017 National Intelligence Law can compel Huawei and other companies to cooperate with state intelligence. In 2012, Australian and US intelligence agencies concluded that

1664-418: The supply chain , as well as potential suppliers and potential buyers. Generally there will be a central trade show floor with booths where people exhibit their goods or services, and throughout the day there will be seminars for continuing education on matters relevant to the industry, like best practices, trends, and regulation. There will also be some shared meals with keynote speakers, and social events in

1728-407: The 1980s, the Chinese government endeavored to overhaul the nation's underdeveloped telecommunications infrastructure. A core component of the telecommunications network was telephone exchange switches, and in the late 1980s, several Chinese research groups endeavored to acquire and develop the technology, usually through joint ventures with foreign companies. Ren Zhengfei, a former deputy director of

1792-563: The 2021 edition would still proceed with a controlled maximum number of 50,000 attendees. At least 10 large exhibitors announced their withdrawal, including Ericsson , Nokia , Facebook , Sony and Cisco . BT was the first Tier 1 telco to announce their withdrawal. In 2022, from 28 February to 3 March, the Mobile World Congress took place. The mobile technology convention anticipated over 1,800 attendees and exhibitors from 183 countries. All participants were required to have

1856-444: The 2021 third quarter. Linghao Bao, an analyst at policy research firm Trivium China said the "communications giant went from being the second-largest smartphone maker in the world, after Samsung, to essentially dead." By the end of third quarter in 2022, Huawei revenue had dropped a further 19.7% since the beginning of the year. Yet, for the seventh consecutive year, Huawei remained the top patent applicant for patents filled under

1920-563: The 21st century, with the rapid industrialization of Asia , trade shows and exhibitions are now commonplace throughout the Asian continent, with China dominating the exhibitions industry in Asia, accounting for more than 55 per cent of all space sold in the region in 2011. Trade shows play important roles in marketing as well as business networking in market sectors that use them. People will seek to meet people and companies at their own level in

1984-574: The Chinese University of Politics and Law also rejects the argument that Huawei is a state-owned enterprise controlled by a labor union, writing that normative practices and legal requirements distinguish between the shareholding vehicle of union-held employee assets and assets belonging to the union itself. Academics Kunyuan Qiao of Cornell University and Christopher Marquis of the University of Cambridge likewise conclude that Huawei

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2048-408: The Chinese government had a vested interest in fostering a company to compete against Apple and Samsung. Ren sought to reverse engineer foreign technologies with local researchers. China borrowed liberally from Qualcomm and other industry leaders (PBX as an example) in order to enter the market. At a time when all of China's telecommunications technology was imported from abroad, Ren hoped to build

2112-427: The Huawei's virtual shares are substantially equivalent to voting stock, and that nominal ownership through the trade union does not change the legal and financial independence of employee ownership from the union itself. Goto concludes that the firm is effectively owned by employees and therefore it is not effectively state-owned. In analyzing Huawei's corporate governance and ownership structure, Academic Wang Jun of

2176-528: The PCT, with 6494 published applications in 2023. By mid-2024, the company had recovered after a brief decline in turnover and profit and continued its expansion. Most foreign parts in the supply chain were successfully replaced by domestic products in a relatively short period of time. In the first quarter of 2024, the company's profits increased nearly six-fold compared to the previous year to just under US$ 2.7 billion. On 21 June 2024, Huawei announced that HarmonyOS

2240-641: The People's Liberation Army engineering corps, founded Huawei in 1987 in Shenzhen. The company reports that it had RMB 21,000 (about $ 5,000 at the time) in registered capital from Ren Zhengfei and five other investors at the time of its founding where each contributed RMB 3,500. These five initial investors gradually withdrew their investments in Huawei. The Wall Street Journal has suggested, however, that Huawei received approximately "$ 46 billion in loans and other support, coupled with $ 25 billion in tax cuts" since

2304-629: The brand remains most synonymous with the Barcelona event. The name of the event has evolved over the years. The event's origin traces back to a business conference on "Pan Europe Digital Cellular Radio" (the original working name of the GSM mobile system) held in Brussels in 1987. The name "GSM World Congress" was first used in 1990 when the event was held in Rome. For the next few years, the event moved to

2368-483: The company came in 1996 when the government in Beijing adopted an explicit policy of supporting domestic telecommunications manufacturers and restricting access to foreign competitors. Huawei was promoted by both the government and the military as a national champion, and established new research and development offices. Beginning in the late 1990s, Huawei built communications networks throughout sub-Saharan Africa and

2432-434: The company founder Ren Zhengfei , the name Huawei comes from a slogan he saw on a wall, Zhonghua youwei meaning "China has achievements" ( 中华有为 ; Zhōng huá yǒu wéi ), when he was starting up the company and needed a name. Zhonghua or Hua means China, while youwei means "promising/to show achievements". Huawei has also been translated as "splendid achievement" or "China's legacy", which are possible readings of

2496-578: The company had approximately 600 R&D staff and began its own independent commercialization of PBX switches targeting hotels and small enterprises. In order to grow despite difficult competition from Alcatel , Lucent, and Nortel Networks , in 1992 Huawei focused on low-income and difficult to access market niches. Huawei's sales force traveled from village to village in underdeveloped regions, gradually moving into more developed areas. The company's first major breakthrough came in 1993 when it launched its C&C08 program controlled telephone switch. It

2560-585: The company, which compensates them for their holding. Although employee shareholders receive dividends, their shares do not entitle them to any direct influence in management decisions, but enables them to vote for members of the 115-person Representatives' Commission from a pre-selected list of candidates. The Representatives' Commission selects Huawei Holding's board of directors and Board of Supervisors. Academics Christopher Balding of Fulbright University and Donald C. Clarke of George Washington University have described Huawei's virtual stock program as "purely

2624-409: The employee leaves the firm, subject to a redemption payment from Huawei Holding TUC at a low fixed price". Balding and Clarke add, "given the public nature of trade unions in China, if the ownership stake of the trade union committee is genuine, and if the trade union and its committee function as trade unions generally function in China, then Huawei may be deemed effectively state-owned." Tim Rühlig,

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2688-551: The evenings. Booths range from simple tables to elaborate constructions. Trade shows often involve a considerable investment in time and money by participating companies. The planning includes arranging meetings with other attendees beforehand and resources to follow up on opportunities that are created at the show. Costs include space rental, booth design and construction of trade show displays, telecommunications, travel, accommodations, and promotional literature and items to give to attendees. In addition, costs are incurred at

2752-560: The event had become "impossible" to host under these conditions. In April 2020, it was announced that Barcelona will continue hosting the event until 2024 as a consequence of cancellation of MWC 2020. On 23 September 2020, due to the potential of COVID-19 to affect the 2021 event, the GSMA announced that it would postpone the Mobile World Congress Barcelona to the last week of June. On 17 March 2021, GSMA stated

2816-531: The event, completed the purchase of the show with the name changing to Mobile World Congress for the first time. The GSMA endorsed the International Mobile Gaming Awards in 2008, which were held at the event from then until 2012. In 2011, GSMA announced a long-term deal to continue hosting the event in Barcelona through 2023. Starting in 2013, Mobile World Congress has been held at the Fira de Barcelona Gran Via. In February 2020,

2880-472: The extent of state influence on Huawei have revolved around its national champions role in China, subsidies and financing support from state entities, and reactions of the Chinese government in light of opposition in certain countries to Huawei's participation in 5G . Its software and equipment have been linked to the mass surveillance of Uyghurs and Xinjiang internment camps , drawing sanctions from

2944-471: The first time a telecommunications equipment supplier from China had received Approved Supplier status from Vodafone Global Supply Chain. In 2007, Huawei began a joint venture with US security software vendor Symantec Corporation , known as Huawei Symantec , which aimed to provide end-to-end solutions for network data storage and security. Huawei bought out Symantec's share in the venture in 2012, with The New York Times noting that Symantec had fears that

3008-549: The first time in 2010. Liang Hua is the current chair of the board. As of 2019 , the members of the board are Liang Hua, Guo Ping, Xu Zhijun, Hu Houkun, Meng Wanzhou ( CFO and deputy chairwoman), Ding Yun, Yu Chengdong, Wang Tao, Xu Wenwei, Shen-Han Chiu, Chen Lifang, Peng Zhongyang, He Tingbo, Li Yingtao, Ren Zhengfei, Yao Fuhai, Tao Jingwen, and Yan Lida. Guo Ping is the Chairman of Huawei Device, Huawei's mobile phone division. Huawei's Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer

3072-696: The globe. For example, in the U.S., there are currently over 10,000 trade shows held every year, and several online directories have been established to help organizers, attendees, and marketers identify appropriate events. Modern trade shows follow in the tradition of trade fairs established in late medieval Europe such as the Champagne fairs or the Skåne Market , in the era of merchant capitalism . In this era, produce and craft producers visited towns for trading fairs, to sell and showcase products. These markets were held annually or on several specific days

3136-476: The largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the world. Huawei surpassed Apple and Samsung , in 2018 and 2020, respectively, to become the largest smartphone manufacturer worldwide. As of 2024, Huawei's biggest area of business is in telecommunications equipment. Its largest customer is the Chinese government. Amidst its rise, Huawei has been accused of intellectual property infringement , for which it has settled with Cisco . Questions regarding

3200-475: The name in English out of concern that non-Chinese people may find it hard to pronounce, but decided to keep the name, and launched a brand recognition campaign instead to encourage a pronunciation closer to "Wah-Way" using the words "Wow Way". Ren states, "We will not change the name of our brand and will teach foreigners how to pronounce it. We have to make sure they do not pronounce it like 'Hawaii.'" In

3264-637: The name. In Chinese pinyin , the name is Huáwéi , and pronounced [xwǎwěɪ] in Mandarin Chinese ; in Cantonese , the name is transliterated with Jyutping as Waa -wai and pronounced [wa˩wɐj˩] . However, the pronunciation of Huawei by non-Chinese varies in other countries, for example "Hoe-ah-wei" in Belgium and the Netherlands. The company had considered changing

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3328-541: The partnership "would prevent it from obtaining United States government classified information about cyber threats". In May 2008, Australian carrier Optus announced that it would establish a technology research facility with Huawei in Sydney . In October 2008, Huawei reached an agreement to contribute to a new GSM-based HSPA+ network being deployed jointly by Canadian carriers Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility , joined by Nokia Siemens Networks . Huawei delivered one of

3392-622: The press, among others. Its annual attendance is generally around 100,000 people, while mobile phone manufacturers often use the conference to unveil upcoming devices. The event is organised by the GSM Association (GSMA) . GSMA has extended the MWC brand to three other trade shows in Shanghai , China (MWC Shanghai), Kigali , Rwanda (MWC Kigali, formerly MWC Africa) and Las Vegas , United States (MWC Las Vegas, formerly MWC Los Angeles), but

3456-709: The public) that is claimed to be representative of Huawei's employee shareholders. The company's trade union committee is registered with and pays dues to the Shenzhen federation of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions , which is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party . About half of Huawei staff participate in this structure (foreign employees are not eligible), and hold what the company calls "virtual restricted shares". These shares are non-tradable and are allocated to reward performance. When employees leave Huawei, their shares revert to

3520-564: The second quarter of 2020, Huawei had become the world's top smartphone seller, overtaking Samsung for the first time. In 2021, Huawei was ranked the second-largest R&D investor in the world by the EU Joint Research Centre (JRC) in its EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard and ranked fifth in the world in US patents according to a report by Fairview Research's IFI Claims Patent Services. However, heavy international sanctions saw Huawei's revenues drop by 32% in

3584-678: The show for services such as electrical, booth cleaning, internet services, and drayage (also known as material handling). This local spending on logistics leads cities to promote trade shows as a means of local economic development, as well as providing opportunities for local businesses to grow, and attract new businesses to come. Autumn session: October 15–19 (Phase 1); October 23–27 (Phase 2); October 31- November 4 (Phase 3). Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ("Huawei" sometimes stylized as " HUAWEI ") ( / ˈ hw ɑː w eɪ / HWAH -way , / ˈ w ɑː w eɪ / WAH -way ; Chinese : 华为 ; pinyin : Huáwéi )

3648-484: The trade, e.g. professionals ) and members of the press , therefore trade shows are classified as either "public" or "trade only". A few shows are hybrids of the two; one example is the Frankfurt Book Fair , which is trade only for its first three days and open to the general public on its final two days. They are held on a continuing basis in virtually all markets and normally attract companies from around

3712-561: The world's first LTE /EPC commercial networks for TeliaSonera in Oslo, Norway in 2009. Norway-based telecommunications Telenor instead selected Ericsson due to security concerns with Huawei. In July 2010, Huawei was included in the Global Fortune 500 2010 list published by the US magazine Fortune for the first time, on the strength of annual sales of US$ 21.8 billion and net profit of US$ 2.67 billion. In October 2012, it

3776-851: The world's five largest cloud players in the near future. In 2017, Huawei and the government of Malaysia began cooperating to develop public security programs and Malaysian Smart City programs, as well as a related lab in Kuala Lumpur . In April 2019, Huawei established the Huawei Malaysia Global Training Centre (MGTC) at Cyberjaya , Malaysia . Huawei has had a major role in building, by 2019, approximately 70% of Africa's 4G networks. In November 2020, Telus Mobility dropped Huawei in favor of Samsung, Ericsson, and Nokia for their 5G/ Radio Access Network By 2018, Huawei had sold 200 million smartphones. In 2019, Huawei reported revenue of US$ 122 billion. By

3840-709: Was announced that Huawei would move its UK headquarters to Green Park , Reading, Berkshire . Huawei also has expanding operations in Ireland since 2016. As well as a headquarters in Dublin , it has facilities in Cork and Westmeath. In September 2017, Huawei created a Narrowband IoT city-aware network using a "one network, one platform, N applications" construction model utilizing Internet of things (IoT), cloud computing , big data , and other next-generation information and communications technology , it also aims to be one of

3904-526: Was by far the most powerful switch available in China at the time. By initially deploying in small cities and rural areas and placing emphasis on service and customizability, the company gained market share and made its way into the mainstream market. Huawei also won a key contract to build the first national telecommunications network for the People's Liberation Army, a deal one employee described as "small in terms of our overall business, but large in terms of our relationships". In 1994, founder Ren Zhengfei had

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3968-478: Was founded in 1987 by Ren Zhengfei , a former officer in the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Initially focused on manufacturing phone switches , Huawei has expanded to more than 170 countries to include building telecommunications network infrastructures , providing equipment, operational and consulting services, and manufacturing communications devices for the consumer market. It overtook Ericsson in 2012 as

4032-727: Was moving to Canada . In 2020, Huawei agreed to sell the Honor brand to a state-owned enterprise of the Shenzhen government to "ensure its survival" under US sanctions. In November 2022, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) banned sales or import of equipment made by Huawei out of national security concerns, and other countries such as all members of the Five Eyes , Quad members India and Japan , and ten European Union states have since also banned or restricted Huawei products. According to

4096-523: Was reported that GSMA was considering cancelling the event entirely; health measures were already to be instituted, including a requirement for Chinese attendees to undergo a two-week quarantine prior to the event, as well as body temperature checks of attendees. Chinese vendor Huawei , as well as Samsung , announced plans to remain with a reduced presence, with Huawei primarily sending its European executives only. On 12 February 2020, GSMA CEO John Hoffman announced that MWC 2020 had been cancelled, stating that

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