Broadband statistics
2007-04-27
The number of broadband internet users is rising steadily in Poland, although there are considerable disparities between sources regarding the nominal figures and shares of different access technologies. Still, a significant percentage of subscribers have access to connections with a very low bandwidth capacity.The European perspective
Broadband has been the fastest growing segment of the European telecommunications market for the last two years, with growth in value terms estimated at around 8% in 2006. According to the European Commission, more than 20 million new fixed broadband lines were registered in 2006 in the European Union countries, which represents growth of 39% year-on-year. Increasing revenues from broadband services are helping to offset the decline in revenues from traditional fixed services. Consumers continue to benefit from lower prices, higher speeds and a variety of broadband service packages due to increasing competition on the broadband market. New bundled offerings are fuelling consumer demand for broadband services.
Moreover, the number of permanent internet connections in Poland and other Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries has also shot up. Poland: the European perspective
Recently, three independent institutions published their own estimates of broadband internet subscriber numbers and broadband penetration levels in Poland.
According to an OECD report published in April 2007, there were around 2.6 million broadband internet subscribers in Poland at the end of 2006. Meanwhile, the latest calculations made by Point Topic, a market research company monitoring the global internet sector, suggest that this number stands at just under 2.5 million. It is important to note that both OECD and Point Topic (according to the recommendations of the International Telecommunications Union) treated a minimum speed of 256 kbps as a sufficient to count as a broadband connection.  OECD analysts claim that Poland has a relatively low broadband penetration rate, both in comparison with most CEE countries and more mature Western European markets. The penetration rate calculated for Poland amounted to 6.9% at the end of 2006, while in the Czech Republic the corresponding figure was 10.6% and in Hungary – 11.9%. Among EU countries from the CEE region, only Slovakia had a lower density level than Poland. To make mattes worse for Poland the European Commission calculated the country’s broadband penetration rate in 2006 at just 4.5% (only Slovakia and Greece recorded lower percentages in the EU25).  When it comes to access technologies, DSL is continuing to consolidate its position in the EU as the main broadband technology. According to the European Commission, around 82% of all broadband lines in the EU25 were xDSL connections. In contrast, CaTV broadband represented 15% of all connections last year (its share has dropped 1.3 percentage points year-on-year). Other technologies (FTTH, wireless local loop (WLL), satellite, leased lines, LAN using Ethernet protocol, etc) account for around 3% of the total. Meanwhile, the share of broadband via mobile networks (UMTS, HSDPA, CDMA, Flarion, EDGE) is gradually on the rise. The d ominance of xDSL is also evident in Central and Eastern Europe, although its share varies from country to country. According to OECD, the most DSL-oriented countries are Poland and Slovakia. Hungary boasts a relatively large share of connections via CaTV. The OECD’s statistics for the “Other” category in the Czech Republic include a large number of wireless broadband connections provided over mobile networks. Although broadband subscriptions via 3G networks are not included for other countries, an exception was made for the Czech Republic because such connections make use of “fixed” equipment at home (i.e. are not mobile) and offer individual users speeds greater than 256 kbps. Poland: The local perspective
The ISP market in Poland remains highly fragmented, with several hundred businesses vying for trade on the market. The vast majority are tiny firms or even self-employed individuals with relatively small revenues that are mostly active on their local markets. These small suppliers and housing estate networks still command a significant share of the household broadband internet access market. According to our research, there were a total of 4.2 million subscribers to permanent internet access services in Poland, irrespective of connection speed, at the end 2006. TP SA’s share in such a defined market amounted to 41%, while that of small ISPs and estate networks totalled 28%.
Despite the fact that for methodology reasons PMR’s broadband statistics deviate considerably from the figures published by the OECD, Point Topic and the European Commission, the broadband subscriber base has obviously enjoyed a very high dynamic over the last two years regardless of the institution making the caclulations. According to all the sources, Poland’s broadband subscriber base noted year-on-year growth of at least 50%.  On the other hand , no precise statistics exist regarding the downloading speed of internet connections used in Poland. Taking into account consumer surveys, differences in the way the broadband subscriber base was calculated by foreign institutions and companies with more local insight, as well as opinions obtained from the largest ISPs in Poland we estimate that at the end of the first half of 2006 53% of all fixed-line internet access subscribers in Poland (households plus businesses) had connections with speeds of under 256 kbps. Concurrently, around 22% of all broadband customers in Poland had links with a capacity of 512 kbps or more.
In spite of the considerable market share enjoyed by low-speed connections, even smaller operators have begun to stop offering 128-256 kbps access to new users or customers renewing contracts. The standard now is a guaranteed 512 kbps. ISPs are consistently cutting their rates for their fastest connections, and in this way shifting the focus of competition to price rather than actually cutting subscription prices. This may be interpreted as one of the most important trends evident on the Polish broadband internet access market over the past year.Pawel Olszynka
Head IT&Telecoms Analyst
PMR Publicationspawel.olszynka@pmrpublications.com
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