Government wants to establish state telecommunications operator

The government's proposal to amend the act on the national cybersecurity system includes completely new, previously unpublished provisions. One of them is the establishment of a new state-owned telecommunications operator under the act, which would support 5G networks, including Chancellery of the Prime Minister, the Sejm and the President, the Polish Army, and the Police. In addition, out of 750 comments submitted to the previous version of the Act, only a few were taken into account. 

“Despite the fact that most of such a large number of reservations were not taken into account, the government did not plan a second round of consultations this time,” Rafał Jaczyński, regional director for cybersecurity in Huawei Polska, noted.

“Taking into account the new provisions introduced in this version of the amendment, we are dealing with a completely new act, not previously subject to public consultations. All market participants were stunned for the first time to read about a new state-owned telecommunications operator that would not have to bother with an auction to obtain frequencies. Certification provisions are also important, and they also appeared for the first time. There is no justification for proceeding with such important regulations without dialogue with entrepreneurs and social organizations,” Jaczyński emphasized.

The draft amendment has already been submitted to the Committee of the Council of Ministers for Digitization. It assumes, inter alia, the establishment of a strategic communication network operator, i.e. a state-owned telecommunications operator, which will operate as a State Treasury company and provide public institutions with telecommunications services for defense-related purposes, security, and public order. The state-owned operator will operate within the frequencies provided to it by the President of UKE and use the infrastructure of commercial operators. They will be obliged to provide him with their resources for a fee, and in the event of disagreement, the decision on this matter will be made by UKE.

(Newseria)