Communications in Poland
Encyclopedia
Telephone system
From the communist era Poland inherited an underdeveloped and outmoded system of telephones, with some areas (e.g. in the extreme South East) being served by manual exchanges. In December 2005 the last analog exchange was shut down. All telephone lines are now served by modern fully computerised exchanges (Siemens EWSDEWSD
EWSD is one of the most widely installed telephone exchange systems in the world. EWSD can work as a local or tandem switch or combined local/tandem, and for landline or mobile phones...
, Alcatel S12, Lucent 5ESS, Alcatel E10). The former state owned telephone monopoly (TPSA) has been mostly privatised, with France Telecom buying the largest share. Various other companies have entered the fixed phone market, but generally aiming for niches (e.g. Sferia with fixed wireless, Netia
Netia
Netia a telecom which owns the second-largest fixed-line network in Poland. In 2006 Icelandic-owned Novator acquired a large stake in Netia. Netia and Novator announced that they are going to build a 4th mobile network in Poland....
covering primarily business). Whilst prices have reduced and availability has increased considerably since the introduction of competition, there is little sign of TPSA's market share being seriously reduced.
The long waiting list for fixed line telephones helped in a boom in mobile cellular telephone use and all mobile phone operators in Poland use GSM. There are three competing networks with similar market share, T-Mobile (T-Mobile and Heyah
Heyah
Heyah is a pay-as-you-go brand offered by Polish GSM provider Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa. The brand was introduced in 2004. Although it is marketed primarily toward young people, it had a substantial effect on the Polish mobile telephony market with its significantly lower prices and one-second billing...
brands), Orange Polska
Orange Polska
Orange is the brand name of Polish mobile phone network operator, PTK Centertel.The company was founded in December 1991 to operate an analog network under the Centertel brand. It launched Idea, Poland's third GSM network, in 1998, operating on both the 900 and 1800-MHz bands from the beginning...
(Orange and POP brands) and Plus (Plus and Sami Swoi brands). The fourth network, Play, owned by Netia
Netia
Netia a telecom which owns the second-largest fixed-line network in Poland. In 2006 Icelandic-owned Novator acquired a large stake in Netia. Netia and Novator announced that they are going to build a 4th mobile network in Poland....
and Novator Telecom, started offering UMTS network services in early 2007. All mobile operators have UMTS services in the major cities, with nationwide coverage planned.
Domestic
cable, open wire, and microwave radio relay; 4 cellular networks; local exchanges 100% digitalInternational
satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat, NA Eutelsat, 2 Inmarsat (Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions), and 1 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region)Radio broadcast stations : AM 14, FM 777, shortwave 1 (1998)
Radios : 20.2 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations : 179 + 256 repeaters (1995)
Televisions : 13.05 million (1997)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) : 19 (1999)
Internet Users : 16 million (2007)
Country code (Top level domain): PL