How Telecom Market is changing
There is no doubt that technology is enhancing the efficiency of each field of human life be it health, banking, agriculture or education. Both Governments and private sector from across the globe are collaborating to take maximum advantage of latest technologies and introduce innovative services for the benefits of citizens. Telecom sector globally has witnessed many ICT advancements after the inception of 3G/4G services.
Telecom market of Poland is the second largest telecoms market in central and Eastern Europe. In 2016, it was worth $10.5 billion. Surprisingly, the ever blooming telecom marketing is shrinking with respect to Subscriber base. By the end of March 2017, there were 50.18 million mobile subscribers. The number has decreased when compared to the same period last year when the number of cellular subscribers were 53.39 million.
However according to GUS data, in Q1-2018 the number of cellular subscribers and users amounted to 52.0 million (the number of subscribers was 32.8 million, and the number of users – 19.2 million). In comparison to March last year, the number of subscribers increased (by 9.2%), while the number of users decreased (by 27.6%). The decrease in mobile subscribers is due to the sudden termination of inactive accounts and closure of multiple SIM cards per users.The reports published by the Operators show that the leader of the mobile market in Poland in terms of having SIM cards is Orange Polska.
However it is predicted that soon Polish telecom market will witness growth by Q4 2018 and till 2022, telecom market of Poland will register growth of 4.3 percent whereas the revenue will reach $9.1 bn. Mobile data connections will increase to 12.8 percent due to the ever increasing use of smartphone and adoption of 4G.
Smartphone are expected to make up over 90 percent of handset subscriptions by 2020 which is up from 55 percent when compared to year 2017.By 2022, users will be consuming around 6GB of data on monthly basis which is a great number when compared to year 2017 when it was only 2.6GB.
Poland Government is also planning to invest for increasing broadband coverage in the country. To make internet available in rural areas, government also plansto invest on fiber-optic networks.
It should be mentioned here that Poland telecom market has the following active players:
- Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile)
- Multimedia Polska
- nc+
- Orange
- Play
- Polkomtel (Plus)
- UPC Polska
- Netia
Poland’s liberalized telecom market has seen considerable development in recent years, with the regulatory environment having been shaped by EU principles designed to facilitate competition and encourage competing operators to enter the market. Recently this extended to opening Orange Poland’s fiber network to access and pricing regulation.
The fixed broadband market has benefited from excellent cross-platform competition, with comprehensive DSL infrastructure complemented by considerable cable sites and a growing existence that is fiber. Commercial considerations suggested that fiber was for some years limited to lots of urban areas, though more recently the sector has gotten considerable help that is economic the federal government as well as the EU aimed at building fibre-based networks around the world and advertising fibre connectivity to end-users. The proportion of broadband customers receiving something of at least 100Mb/s has increased sharply in modern times as a result.
Orange Poland nevertheless dominates the broadband that is fixed even though there is some consolidation among operators. UPC Poland in particular has grown through purchases, though its bid to take the cable assets over of Multimedia Polska had been abandoned in very early 2018 after regulatory issues throughout the proposed deal’s impact on market competition. The mobile network operators are preparing for 5G and Orange plans to launch it in 2019.
Mobile penetration in Poland is above the average that is European standing at nearly 141% by early 2018. This reflects the continuing appeal among customers to keep a couple of SIM cards, which includes altered the real penetration rate that is mobile. The distortion happens to be addressed on two fronts: by network operators being encouraged to disconnect inactive SIM cards, and also by legislation, effective from 2017, which obliges members of prepaid services to join up their details February. It has triggered a readjustment that is significant how many readers available in the market.
Here are some key developments of Poland Telecom Market:Bottom of Form
- NetWorkS! Joint venture increases LTE spectrum allocation;
- Polkomtel’s LTE-A service data rate increased to 500Mb/s;
- Legislation waives spectrum fees for technology trials;
- Orange Poland planning 5G trials in 2019;
- T-Mobile Poland launches commercial NB-IoT services;
- Vectra and Toya launch 1Gb/s FttP services;
- Liberty Global cancels proposed acquisition of Multimedia’s cable assets;
- Netia and Orange Poland head fibre-based consortia to extend broadband nationally;
- Government creates Ministry of Administration and Digitalisation to oversee telecom sector development;
- Telecommunications Act amended;
- Report update includes the regulator’s market data report for 2016, State Statistics data for 2016, telcos’ operating and financial data for Q4 2017, recent market developments.
