Number of mobile internet subscribers doubles in a year
Posted May 18th, 2007 in Business news by Ela Pawełek-LuberaThe number of mobile internet access subscribers in Poland has increased more than twofold in twelve months. At the moment, there are around 550,000 users who connect to the internet via the GSM networks, whereas this figure was below 200,000 a year ago.
According to Rzeczpospolita, Polkomtel, the operator of the Plus mobile network, and PTK Centertel, the Orange operator, claim that they each have 200,000 subscribers for such services. PTC, the operator of the Era network, reports 150,000. Mobile internet subscribers do not generate a higher ARPU than those who use mobile handsets, but the profits are more substantial, as the operator does not have to pay competitors to link to their networks.
The operators estimate that the total subscriber count could stand at 700,000 at the end of the year and may even exceed this figure. The operators emphasise that the rapid growth of the subscriber base will be driven by an increase in the number of notebooks owned by Poles.
At the beginning of 2007 PTC launched an offer which allowed a subscriber who decided to sign up for a three-year period to buy a Fujitsu-Siemens laptop for PLN 1 (€0.26). The operator has attracted around 7,500 clients with this offer and is planning a relaunch. Polkomtel and PTK Centertel plan to follow PTC but they are going to cooperate with banks which would grant the subscribers loans to purchase a computer.
Polkomtel has announced that it intends to upgrade its infrastructure in order to offer a transfer speed of 3.6 Mbps over the entire network. PTK Centertel is already advertising such a speed, and PTC has stated that by the end of the year 35% of the country’s population will have access to 3.6 Mbps. The increased transfer speed is also considered to be a factor which will drive growth in the subscriber base.
source: itandtelecompoland.com
