Liberalization
&
Deregulation
The telecommunications market in Poland is facing profound changes stemming from the process of taking on community access and from the general process of globalization of the economy. A draft Telecommunications Law has been prepared. The Law is currently debated in the Parliament.
In September 1997 the process of privatization of the national telecommunications operator, Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. (TPSA), was formally started. In the first stage of the privatization process (October 1999) 15% of the company's stock was sold in a public offer (IPO) directed to the Polish (1/3 of the offer) and foreign investors, and the further 15% of the company's stock was taken over by the entitled company's employees. In the second, currently running, stage of the privatization of TPSA, the State Treasury plans the sale of 35% of the company's stock to a foreign strategic investor chosen in an open tender procedure, as announced on 6 January 2000. The deadline for submitting offers was 28 February 2000. It is anticipated that the strategic investor will be chosen this year. Poland has undertaken advanced activities aiming at the establishment of an independent telecommunications regulatory authority, the Telecommunications Regulatory Office (URT) - in the shortest possible time after the adoption of the Telecommunications Law.
Poland's liberalization of telecommunications services requires enforcement of a full set of conditions to safeguard competition, such as regulatory independence, tariff re-balancing and the prevention of market distortion by dominant suppliers.
|
Category
of infrastructure / service
|
Status
|
Legal
requirements
|
|
Local
networks for voice telephony
|
Limited
to a duopoly regime between TPSA and one company in each local area
which may be granted a license to set up and operate telephone services
|
License
from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications
|
|
Long-distance
networks for telephony
|
Closed.
No other operator licensed yet.
|
Domestic
long-distance carriers must be at least 51% Polish-owned
|
|
International
telephony networks
|
Closed
(TPSA monopoly)
|
Legal
monopoly for TPSA in public voice telephony and telegraphy services.
In other services, international carriers must be 100% Polish-owned.
|
|
The
use of cable TV networks for non-reserved services
|
Legally
open but no company had applied for a license by May 1998. Cable TV
networks are limited to minority foreign ownership since July 1995.
Some CATV networks are exempted from this limitation.
|
License
from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications Local requirements
are the same as in general regulations.
|
|
Alternative
infrastructure (internal networks of roads, railways, electricity utilities
and oil industry)
|
Open
but may only be used for traffic within a local zone. 11 operators have
received a license to provide telephony to residential subscribers living
in special housing programs.
|
License
from the Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications
|
|
Local
telephony services
|
Limited
to a duopoly regime, where a private operator may compete with TPSA
in each local area. No limitation on foreign ownership
|
License
from the Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications
|
|
Long-distance
telephony services
|
Closed.
No other operator licensed yet. 49% limit on foreign ownership since
July 1995.
|
Article
16.2 of the Law on Posts and Telecommunications and TPSA management
contract
|
|
International
telephony services
|
Closed
(TPSA monopoly).
|
Article
16.1 of the Law on Posts and Telecommunications and TPSA management
contract
|
|
International
voice call-back services
|
Closed.
|
Article
16.1 of the Law on Posts and Telecommunications and TPSA management
contract
|
|
Data
transmission
|
Open
with competition in place (5 countrywide operators and around 30 VAS
providers)
|
License
from the Ministry of Posts &Telecommunications
|
|
Mobile
communications NMT 450
|
Open
but only one operator (Centertel)
|
License
from the Ministry of Posts &Telecommunications
|
|
Mobile
communications GSM
|
Limited
to two operators which had to be at least 51% Polish-owned and pay an
ECU 100 million fee were granted GSM licenses for 15 years: Polkomtel;
Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa
|
License
from the Ministry of Posts &Telecommunications
|
|
Mobile
communications DCS 1800
|
One
operator licensed (Centertel)
|
License
from the Ministry of Posts &Telecommunications.
|
|
Satellite
communications
|
Open
except for international satellite-based telephony, long-distance voice
telephony and telegraphy reserved to TPSA. Competition in place.
|
License
from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications
|
|
Internet
service provision
|
Open
with competition in place (TPSA, Nask and about 70 other Internet service
providers).
|
License
from the Ministry of Posts &Telecommunications
|
Liberalization of Alternative Infrastructures
Cable TV companies are allowed to compete with telecommunications operators for the provision of telecommunications services subject to an individual license Alternative infrastructure can be used to provide local voice telephony, data communications and paging, subject to an individual license
Liberalization of Local Services
At the service level, the provision of local voice telephony is open to duopoly competition; i.e. TPSA and only one other operator for local telephony in each local area. There is no foreign investment limitation. About 70 licenses for local voice telephony have been issued. The cable companies are entitled to request a franchise to provide local telephony, but have not yet made any request. 30 local companies are reported to be trading, with some 170,000 lines at the end of the first quarter of 1998. The original target of one million private network subscribers by the year 2000 was not met. The reasons given for this have been:
· delays getting interconnection agreements;
· unavailability of leased lines and no clear regulation for their connection to the PSTN;
· the lack of arrangements for private capital.
Indeed, capital may not be forthcoming when the pricing reference is TPSA's (subsidized) local tariff. One reason for rebalancing tariffs should be to restore the profitability of local networks, and until TPSA's tariff rebalancing is complete, the competitive market for local telephony is unlikely to attract much investment.
Liberalization of domestic long-distance telecommunications
For domestic long-distance telecommunications, Polish legislation requires the operator to be at least 51% Polish-owned and a majority of the board of directors to be Polish citizens resident in Poland. International carriers in Poland must be 100% Polish-owned, and long-distance public telephony and telegraphy services had to remain with TPSA until January 1, 1999. This is no longer the case.
Liberalization of international telephony services
This is planned for January 1, 2003 although the Council of Ministers is authorized to advance this date. Until then, TPSA has the monopoly of these services.
Liberalization of mobile telecommunications
The mobile sector is competitive, with one NMT 450 license, two GSM licenses and one DCS-1800 license granted. Mobile operators must be 51 % Polish-owned with a board of which the majority are Polish citizens residing in Poland. They must also pay a substantial fee for a license
Liberalization of other services
The cable TV and data communications markets are open. Value-added services companies have a foreign participation limitation of 40%.
Interconnection Rules
Established by Ministry Decision include a time limit for negotiations (3 months) and an arbitration procedure supervised by the Ministry.
ETO - Poland - European Telecommunications Office
CEEC Status Report: Poland -- EU-CEEC Joint High Level Committee
Information Technology Landscape in Nations Around the World