A case of more and less
It was another good year for the subscribers of the fixed-line telephony in 2004, as the prices of services, especially long distance, international and phone to mobile (F2M) calls, continued to plummet. The Office of Telecommunications and Post Regulations (URTiP) estimates that the average price of a local phone call (in comparison to 2001) fell by approximately 28 percent and long distance call by more than 26 percent. As far as international connections go, the prices of a phone call to the US dropped by as much as 74 percent.
Tariff trend
This fall in charges is mainly due to the activities of independent operators offering calls at much lower prices than Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. (TP SA). TP SA's subscribers can now use another operator's services by choosing its prefix number. This competition in turn has forced the monopoly to adapt their offer to clients' demands, but has not prevented its market shares from dropping in every segment of the fixed-line market.
The trend is most clearly visible in the international, long distance and F2M call segments. The decline in the local call sector has been very slight (see graph), however, it must be borne in mind that the survey was conducted before Tele2 began offering competitive local connections using TP SA's lines in December. What's more, on February 28 URTiP president, Witold Graboś, issued a reference offer defining the framework for contracts between TP SA and the alternative operators. Access to local loops allows those operators to use the existing technical infrastructure of the main operator. According to Graboś: "Local loop unbundling will lead to enhancement of competition, low prices and improvement of services." However, alternative operators are not fully satisfied with URTiP's offer because, according to them, the proposed tariffs are higher than in comparable countries.
Hanging on
Despite the clear loss of market share, TP SA finished 2004 with a record-high profit of zł.2.24 billion (compared to zł.724 million the previous year). To a large extent, this is due to a highly successful year on the mobile market. Experts predict that TP SA's share of the fixed-line connections will continue to decrease, although at different rates depending on the segment.
Independent IT and telecom expert Tomasz Kulisiewicz said: "TP SA's market share decline is not as visible in the local call segment, as in long distance and international calls and especially F2M connections." He added that generally it is companies not individuals that are willing to change operators and for this reason he doesn't expect a mass exodus to the so-called alternative operators.
Tele2 took an important step towards challenging TP SA's dominance last December when it began to offer local calls using the incumbent's lines. According to Tele2 spokesman, Karol Wieczorek, cooperation with TP SA has worked well, although there are a few teething problems such as the line connection points, which until now prevented Tele2 from offering local calls throughout the country.
Regional contact
"We hope that by the end of March or by early April we will be able to reach all regions of Poland with our offer," said Wieczorek. He also mentioned that since subscribers will continue to leave TP SA, Tele2 wants to pick up as many of those clients as possible.
Netia, the largest independent fixed-line operator with more than 426,000 lines by the end of Q3 of 2004, has, according to its CEO Wojciech Madalski, "continued a trend of a double digit annual increase of income, which from January until September 2004 rose by 29 percent to zł.666 million." A company source revealed that "for two years Netia's strategy has been focusing on expanding the range of business-based services and this is what the company will concentrate on until 2008." Figures confirm this, as 72 percent of Netia's income from telecommunication activities came from business clients.
Tariff trend
This fall in charges is mainly due to the activities of independent operators offering calls at much lower prices than Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. (TP SA). TP SA's subscribers can now use another operator's services by choosing its prefix number. This competition in turn has forced the monopoly to adapt their offer to clients' demands, but has not prevented its market shares from dropping in every segment of the fixed-line market.
The trend is most clearly visible in the international, long distance and F2M call segments. The decline in the local call sector has been very slight (see graph), however, it must be borne in mind that the survey was conducted before Tele2 began offering competitive local connections using TP SA's lines in December. What's more, on February 28 URTiP president, Witold Graboś, issued a reference offer defining the framework for contracts between TP SA and the alternative operators. Access to local loops allows those operators to use the existing technical infrastructure of the main operator. According to Graboś: "Local loop unbundling will lead to enhancement of competition, low prices and improvement of services." However, alternative operators are not fully satisfied with URTiP's offer because, according to them, the proposed tariffs are higher than in comparable countries.
Hanging on
Despite the clear loss of market share, TP SA finished 2004 with a record-high profit of zł.2.24 billion (compared to zł.724 million the previous year). To a large extent, this is due to a highly successful year on the mobile market. Experts predict that TP SA's share of the fixed-line connections will continue to decrease, although at different rates depending on the segment.
Independent IT and telecom expert Tomasz Kulisiewicz said: "TP SA's market share decline is not as visible in the local call segment, as in long distance and international calls and especially F2M connections." He added that generally it is companies not individuals that are willing to change operators and for this reason he doesn't expect a mass exodus to the so-called alternative operators.
Tele2 took an important step towards challenging TP SA's dominance last December when it began to offer local calls using the incumbent's lines. According to Tele2 spokesman, Karol Wieczorek, cooperation with TP SA has worked well, although there are a few teething problems such as the line connection points, which until now prevented Tele2 from offering local calls throughout the country.
Regional contact
"We hope that by the end of March or by early April we will be able to reach all regions of Poland with our offer," said Wieczorek. He also mentioned that since subscribers will continue to leave TP SA, Tele2 wants to pick up as many of those clients as possible.
Netia, the largest independent fixed-line operator with more than 426,000 lines by the end of Q3 of 2004, has, according to its CEO Wojciech Madalski, "continued a trend of a double digit annual increase of income, which from January until September 2004 rose by 29 percent to zł.666 million." A company source revealed that "for two years Netia's strategy has been focusing on expanding the range of business-based services and this is what the company will concentrate on until 2008." Figures confirm this, as 72 percent of Netia's income from telecommunication activities came from business clients.
