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(last updated: 2004-09-13 14:56:27)
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Poland’s IT market is developing very rapidly. The largest global computer companies have their own representatives in Poland – from IBM through Oracle to Microsoft. All play an active role in the development of the Polish IT market, organising, amongst other things, conferences on the direction of the development of the Polish Internet and B2B (business-to-business). Polish computer companies have also appeared: Optimus, Prokom, ComputerLand, Softbank and ComArch. All are listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
The value of the Polish IT market is estimated at about $2.7 billion (2.37 billion euro) and that without the inclusion of telecom operators. The dynamic growth in the value of this market is therefore huge, the largest in the Polish economy and many times higher than the rate of GDP growth. The IT branch structure has also changed, with the share of hardware falling – from 62% in 1997 to not quite 43% in 2000, with sales of services and software benefiting, respectively from 38% to more than 57%.
The factor that may make the IT sector even more dynamic is the Internet. It is estimated that only about 1 million people in Poland have access to the net. However, as research centre findings indicate, the number of connections to the net is set to rise very rapidly, both among private and corporate users. The current government is preparing for the introduction of the e-Polska programme, which is aimed at reaching of the following goals: cheaper, faster and safer Internet access, a rise in the level of society’s level of education and government administration more accessible via the Internet.
The next round of changes in the telecommunications market is already taking place in 2002. The most important is the lifting of obligations to hold concessions to operate on the telecommunications market. The telecommunications law stipulated that this type of operation can be conducted on the basis of permits, which will be possible to obtain faster and more easily. In the Financial Times ranking of the largest 500 companies in Europe TPSA came out in top spot in Central and Eastern Europe. TPSA occupied 170th place in Europe as a whole, overtaking amongst others the German airline Lufthansa. It was estimated that TPSA’s market value is almost $9.6 billion. The Treasury Ministry holds not much more than one fifth of TPSA’s shares at the moment. TPSA’s largest competitors on the Polish market are the following companies: Netia, Telefonia Lokalna Dialog, El-Net, the Independent Interzone Operator (Niezale¿ny Operator Miêdzystrefowy, or NOM) and Energis.
Three mobile phone networks operate in Poland: Centertel, belonging to the TPSA capital group (the Idea Centertel network), Polkomtel S.A. (the Plus GSM network) and Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa S.A., (the Era GSM network). These three mobile phone networks have a combined approximately 11 million customers – already more Poles use mobile phones than fixed line telephones. The number of mobile phone users continues to grow very strongly and it is expected that by the end of 2005 every second Pole will have his or her own mobile phone. A third generation mobile phone (UMTS) tender in Poland has already been held. The first connections with the help of UMTS will most likely start to be realised at the end of 2003, start of 2004.
The priority in the area of the housing sector is the creation of conditions that will increase supply and lower the costs of building houses and flats. Two years ago Warsaw was the third largest building site in Europe after Berlin and Moscow. Poland is not longer going through such a building boom, although it would appear that this is a temporary lull caused by the domestic and global economic downturn. Polish and foreign developers have appeared on the Polish market. Cooperative housing has also widened its activity. The new government has promised to start work on making the house building market more competitive. This is to be achieved via cheaper credits subsidised by the state budget, amongst other things. Together with the return of economic upturn the situation on the house building front should also improve.
The most important task facing the government in the area of transport is the construction of new motorways and the restructuring of Polish State Railways (PKP). The Ministry of Infrastructure is undertaking the ‘Programme for the fundamental adaptation of the road network in Poland to EU standards by 2015’ via the construction and modernisation of motorways and express roads. In the framework of the Programme for Motorway Construction it is anticipated that almost 2 000 km of new motorways will be built: the east-west motorways (A2 and A4) from Poland’s western border to the centre of the country (the Wis³a route) as well as north-south (A1). These motorways will be built as part of the Pan-European transport corridor and will be built using both budgetary and private funds.
Poland’s railway network is served by the Polish State Railways (PKP), which for several years has been undergoing restructuring with the aim of modernising infrastructure and rolling stock. The programme is based on breaking the company up into smaller companies, each of which is set to make a profit.
Poland has four important international airports: Warsaw, Cracow, Poznañ and Gdañsk. The Frederic Chopin airport in Warsaw aspires to be the main transit airport for Central and Eastern Europe. Construction of Terminal II of the airport is just starting. Poland’s national carrier, PLL LOT, has been up and flying since the start of the 1930s. Since 1989 a modern fleet, with plenty of connections in Europe, across the Atlantic and the development of charter flight services, have been building a high position for Poland’s civilian airline.
Poland’s marine economy includes the sectors of the marine economy sector exploiting Poland’s location on the Baltic Sea. Among them the most important are: the ship construction and renovation industries, sea ports and harbours and shipping vessels. The Polish marine economy makes up about 2.5% of Poland’s GDP and its share in Poland’s exports exceeds 6%.
The most important sector in Poland’s marine economy is the shipbuilding industry. Poland stands in sixth place in the world in terms of the tonnage of ships built. In 2000 Polish shipyards built 34 ships with carrying capacity of more than 616 CGT, at a value of about $1 billion. Currently it has orders for about 100 ships with a combined tonnage of more than 2 million CGT and valued at about $3 billion. The Polish shipbuilding industry is in third position on the list of Poland’s largest exporters, with its share exceeding 5% of all Poland’s exports.
Poland’s sea ports are an integral part of Europe’s transport infrastructure. Today the main task facing the ports is strengthening their role as intermodal transport junctions, integrating different types of land transport (rail, road and inland waterways). In Poland’s ports logistics-distribution centres are increasingly often sprouting up, increasing the attractiveness of the ports making them places for intensive investment and economic activity.
Processes similar to those taking place among other European ship-owners can be observed in Polish shipping. The historical era of port-to-port type shipping transportation is coming to an end. Sea shipping is becoming one of the elements of overall integrated transport operations from supplier to recipient and in a wider sense also a part of the multi-modal logistical chain shaping ‘door-to-door’ services ‘just-in-time’.
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| • Capital market (2475)
| The market economy in Poland set in motion a new financial system. Institutions arose that were closer to those whose activity is based on the capital markets operating in other European countries. Privatisation, foreign investment, the consolidation
of banks and also the development of the Warsaw bourse have shaped the current shape of the Polish capital market.
| | • Small nad medium sized companies (2268)
| | One of the characteristic traits of the social-systemic changes in Poland over the past 10 years has been the dynamic development of the small and medium sized business sector. This has reflected the freeing up of private enterprises and the involvement of citizens' private capital in the development of economic activity. A factor in developing small and medium sized enterprises has also been the reactivation of local governments that are interested in the economic development of local communes and the introduction of systemic solutions. The state's economic policies related to supporting the development of this sector have also started to bring positive effects. | | • The labour market and entrepreneurial organistations (2655)
| Over the last 13 years economic changes have meant colossal changes in the mentality of Polish employees. Above all they have learned to respect their own as well as others’ work. Together with the end of the state’s protectionist policies in 1989 Poles have learnt that work is not something that always comes easily
and that it is something necessary to value. |
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