Report on the state of the telecommunications market in 2021

Report on the state of the telecommunications market in 2021

What was the value of the Polish telecommunications market in its individual segments? Which Internet technologies were most often used? What bandwidths were most used? How many subscribers still use traditional fixed-line telephony? How many prefer VoIP? How is the mobile telephony market developing? These and other issues can be found in the newest report on the state of the telecommunications market in Poland in 2021.

The value of the telecommunications market in 2021 has not changed in comparison to the previous year (2020) and it amounted to PLN 40.8 billion. Telecommunications investments amounted to PLN 8.9 billion. Already 66.6 % of fixed-line Internet users used Internet access services via lines with a minimum bit rate of 100 Mbps. The use of mobile access in 4G technology has increased. It is estimated that in 2026 81 % of dedicated mobile Internet access users will be using 5G technology.

The traditional fixed-line telephony segment still loses its popularity - it was used by as little as just over 2.7 million subscribers in 2021. Traditional telephone services are being replaced by VoIP, which in 2021 in terms of the number of users accounted for almost 49 % of all voice services provided in fixed networks.

The increasing trend has continued on the mobile telephony market, where the total number of SIM cards reached over 56 million and the use of M2M cards has also increased. The interest in RCS messages and A2P SMS has also increased significantly.

The bundled services segment has not recorded any significant changes. The most popular packages, as in previous years, were "mobile telephony + mobile Internet".

The paid TV services market has slightly increased to PLN 6.7 billion with only a slight decrease in the number of users. The most popular type of access to services has been still the satellite access - its share in total TV services in terms of the number of users dropped to 49.5 %.

Interesting data is also revealed by the second part of the report on the development of telecommunications infrastructure. The visible increase (by nearly 30 thousand during the year) is observed in the number of own telecommunications network nodes installed. The development of the telecommunications market and the efficiency of investments supported from public funds also result in a 4 % increase in optical networks. At the end of last year (2020), the total length of the optical network in Poland was 421,000 km.

The development of the infrastructure also means an increase in the range and the coverage of the NGA networks. In 2021 access to fixed-line Internet with a capacity of minimum 30 Mbps was already owned by over 80 % of households. Thanks to the finalization of projects approved under OPDP, additional 4 % of households will have receive the broadband access.

We invite you to download and read the full report (in Polish) here.

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