Politics and court rulings over UKE hinders telecom market

Meanwhile on Monday, the Regional Court of Administration announced a verdict according to which the acting president of UKE, Deputy Transport and Construction Minister Anna Streżyńska, had no power to take strategic decisions. This means that the Office will not function in accordance with the schedule to speed up the process of the liberalization of the telecom sector. It also spells bad news for smaller telecom companies, such as Netia, MediaTel or Tele2, and good news for Telekomunikacja Polska (TP) which is fighting to maintain its significant market share. UKE will for the time being not allow the entrance of any new broadband internet providers. The UKE schedule, which cannot now be kept, also envisaged that at the beginning of March a decision would be made whether mobile phone operators should be forced to grant access to their networks to other operators, such as the Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO). (Parkiet, p. 1; Puls Biznesu, p. 1) A.K.