IT and telecoms spending up in Poland

Polish small and medium sized business (SMB) are estimated to have spent about $3.5 (zł.8.03) billion on IT and telecoms by the end of 2008, marking a growth of about 14 percent year on year, according to a study released by New York-based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc.

According to the study, Poland and Russia have the largest GDPs in the Eastern European markets, followed by Ukraine, Czech Republic and Romania.

There are about 674,000 SMBs in Poland, about 50 percent of which use PCs. "About 40 percent of Russia's one million SMBs are currently equipped with PCs, and generate the highest ICT spending in the region," said Pauline Courtiau, New York-based analyst at AMI-Partners.

"In comparison with Russia and Poland, the Czech Republic is a smaller market with just 280,000 SMBs," Courtiau said. "However, it is considered the most mature IT market in Eastern Europe with about an 80 percent PC penetration in SMBs. The country spends slightly more than Poland's SMBs on ICT products and services."