Global & Domestic Number of Users
At the end of 2002, there were in Poland 13,8 Mil. of cellular phone users and 12 Mil. users of traditional telephony.
Only in the last year, the number of cellular phone clients has increased about 43,7%.
Now, there are on average 36 cellular phone users per 100 inhabitants. In comparison the average value for Europe is 80, for Czech Republic 85 and for Hungary about 70.
Name of Leading Global & Domestic Players
Nowadays, in Poland there are 3 suppliers of mobile telecommunication services:
- PTK Centertel is the first mobile telecommunication services provider in Poland. The company was established in 1991 as a Ltd. and is an operator of two mobile phone networks:
- Analogue NMT450i
- Digital Idea
It has over 4.448.000 clients
ERA GSM- Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa Sp. z o.o. The company was established in 1996 as a Ltd.
It has over 5.000.000 clients
PLUS GSM- POLKOMTEL S.A - The company was established in 1995 by 10 shareholders.
Now it has over 4.5500.000 clients.
Actual Business State The number of projects among FP5 (Key Action III ''Multimedia content and tools'') with the Polish participation shows the following statement:
Total submitted proposals in KA III: around 1800
in this with PL: around 80
Total funded proposals in KA III: around 390
in this with PL: 7
In Poland, mobile multimedia & mobile communications industry are in the phase of the rapid development. This growth is supported in accordance to the EU directions eEurope - 2005 - An Information Society for All. The Action Plan and by the national programme ePoland - The Action Plan for the Information Society Development for the years 2001-2006.
The public institutions responsible for the decision related to the mobile communications market are the Office of Telecommunications and Post Regulation (URTiP) and the Department of Communications, Ministry of Infrastructure.
Expectations for the Future of mobile multimedia & mobile communications business
Probably, this year there will be founded new virtually mobile telecommunication operators, who will be competitors for existing firms. The projects of virtually operators can achieve a success because of the growing number of Polish Internet users. In 2002 5.2 Mio. people have had an access to Internet (increase of 44% in comparison to year 2001).
There are also changes in traditional telecommunication, which aims at eliminating of old services and replacing them with new ones. For example the SDI technology, which is insufficient for transmission of data, is replaced by broadband technologies ADSL, which can provide an appropriate speed of working and makes traditional telecommunication open for multimedia technologies.
The Polish mobile telecommunication operators want to achieve revenues just like their counterparts in Europe, so they are selling the phones under the costs of purchasing, and the difference is being received by requesting a higher amounts on connections. Lowering of the costs is being made by offering an additional services and special tariffs. There is for example a successor of SME - MMS. The advantage of this new standard is that there are no limits of size of form of the message. Operators are offering new multimedia services (entertainment and information). There are also new phones - providing games on-line, MMS and GPRS functions, browsers of WWW sites. The traditional function of a phone is just an addition to another functions.
Producers of telecommunication technologies have a lot of problems with forcing operators to starting UMTS system. Operators are afraid that they do not find enough clients for these new solutions (videoconference, quick access to Internet, transmission of music and films. Presently, the mobile communication is a channel mostly for communication. 3G technology offers more advanced new services. Thanks to it market will be open for media companies, TV stations, games and software producers). The operators in Poland in accordance with contract with the Office of Telecommunications and Post Regulation (URTiP) have to implement new technology to the end of 2004.
