Providers fight to net new users
Poland might be far behind its Western neighbors when it comes to internet usage, but the country is rapidly closing the gap, according to the latest research from NetTrack.
The number of net surfers in Poland has grown by 2.5 million over the last two years and by as much as 1.5 million from September 2004 alone. At the same time, according to NetTrack, two out of three Poles surf the worldwide web at home and almost every other surfer has a broadband connection with a speed of at least 128 kilobits per second.
The survey also shows that the most active group of Poles making use of the internet is high-school graduates, who account for 48 percent of the total. Just four percent of net surfers in Poland make occasional use of the worldwide web - once a month or even more rarely. More than half surf the net every or almost every day, and another 23.4 percent log on at least a few times a week. Some 23.7 percent use the internet at work and every 10th Pole has been to an internet café.
According to the poll's results the situation has become very dynamic in terms of recent market competition. The importance of the internet is constantly growing, especially in the field of integrated solutions (performing various services online, such as banking, manufacturing and sales). At the same time, the market in Poland is still far from full but is increasing very fast. According to the two separate polls, the growth of the broadband market exceeds 60 percent every year in Poland, which is the best result in the world.
"We have been constantly adjusting our offer to the ever-changing market reality," says Barbara Górska, a Telekomunikacja Polska's (TP) spokesperson. "In 2004 alone we altered the range and conditions of our services more than 30 times."
Still, telecommunications and IT companies in Poland fall into two categories: TP and the rest. TP is way ahead of the competition, with more than 980,000 broadband users alone. UPC Polska, a private company, has recently surpassed 100,000 customers. Aster City has just hooked up its 65,000th user and Dialog, which provides internet services via cables provided by private telecom company Telia already has 27,000 people connected thanks to a strong advertising campaign.
"So far telecommunication operators have competed on bandwidth and connection speed, which was unfortunately often related to download-amount limits. In my opinion, it won't take long to see serious changes," says Karol Wołkowiński, Dialog SA's chairman. "The most important will be so-called added values, such as multimedia, interactive TV, pay-per-view files and so on."
Though the smaller telecoms are relentlessly chasing the national giant, when it comes to providing internet access, TP is still strong enough to feel safe, as its advantage is enormous. Even Voiceover Internet Protocol (VoIP) services, such as Skype, won't be enough to allow companies to catch up with TP. However, the Polish monopoly doesn't have the luxury of resting on its laurels, as the sector is buzzing with rumors of another giant eyeng-up Poland's rapidly growing market - British Telecom.
