Internet in Poland

2004-01-21

According to GfK recent estimates, at the end of 2003 Internet penetration in Poland amounted to 23%. This is an increase of 6 percentage points over 2002, and in comparison with 2001, the number of Internet users almost doubled.

The frequency of Internet use has increased significantly. Over the last three years GfK analysts have observed an increase in the percentage of people using the Internet several times a week while the percentage constituted by less frequent users has become smaller. It turns out that if in 2001-2002 the percentage of frequent Internet users increased by around 3 percentage points, then over the course of last year this increase amounted to 16 percentage points. Over the course of the last three years, the percentage of home Internet users among general Internet users has increased. This increase amounted to 5 percentage points - this trend has been stimulated by e-commerce.

The type of Internet connection used by Poles when going online has also changed, both at home and at work. In 2001, 85% of household connections were of the dial-up type. In 2002, this technology began to decline in popularity (the percentage of dial-up users dropped by 14pp). In 2003, according to GfK calculations, a further 10pp decline was recorded with a little over 60% of Internet users at home still using dial-up connections.

The shift has been towards broadband Internet connections which, mainly due to numerous promotions, have become more popular among home users. Currently, according to GfK data, 36% of home Internet users use such a connection. By way of comparison, in 2001 there were two thirds fewer such users. GfK analysts have noted an even higher dynamic in the case of Internet connections at work. At present dial-up connections at work account for 33% of the market, when just three years ago they accounted for almost 66% of the market. As in the case of home connections, dial-up Internet access at work is being displaced by broadband connections - doubling in percentage terms in relation to 2001.

According to other GfK findings, around 58% of Polish teenagers (aged 15-19) were Internet users in December 2003. 48% used e-mail services, and 10% used exclusively the Internet's increasingly popular communicators (i.e. Gadu-Gadu, Tlen, MSN, etc.) for their communication needs.

The highest percentage of young Internet users, i.e. 84%, was found in towns with populations of 50 - 100,000 and in large cities with populations above 500,000, where 70% of young people use the Internet. The lowest percentage of Internet users was reported in the case of population of teenagers who live in the countryside, i.e. 48%.

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