Communications in Poland

=Telephones - main lines in use:=

12.5 million (2005)

Telephones - mobile cellular:

40.0 million

Telephone system:

From the communist era Poland inherited an underdeveloped and decrepid 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 EWSD, 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 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, Era (Era and Heyah brands), Orange Polska (Orange and POP brands) and Plus GSM (Plus and Sami Swoi brands). The fourth network, Play Mobile, owned by Netia 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.

Broadband Internet access

Domestic

cable, open wire, and microwave radio relay; 4 cellular networks; local exchanges 100% digital

International

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 : 12 million (2003)

;Country code (Top level domain): PL

External links

* [http://www.era.pl/ Era, a GSM operator]
* [http://www.orange.pl/ Orange Polska, the GSM operator and also the NMT 450 network]
* [http://www.plusgsm.pl/english/ Plus, a GSM operator]
* [http://www.heyah.pl/ Heyah, Poland's first virtual operator]
* [http://www.samiswoi.pl/ Sami Swoi, another virtual operator]
* [http://www.technologie-satelitarne.pl/ Satellite Provider in Poland]