By Greg Vega 
The Polish Institute for Economic Development (PIE) report states that “inconsistent quality of Internet access in Poland during the COVID-19 epidemic” means that “at least 53% of all districts experienced at least one form during the epidemic”. Digital exemption due to lack of adequate internet connection “. The most difficult situation is in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, where 11 out of 14 poviats are at risk of such exemption.
Bad data download speed
On the other hand, the speed of data download on mobile lines is as low as 214 boviats (63% of all boviats). “Taking advantage of the opportunities arising from the development of the 5G network will help improve the speed of connections and reduce imbalances in broadband Internet access,” it said.
In almost half of all bovians (184) living in 15.3 million people, the researchers noted that most of the bandwidth tests conducted did not have sufficient data download speeds. “The worst situation in this category was in Mazowieckie and Świętokrzyskie voivodships” – it was said. This includes connections through home WiFi networks, the most popular way to connect to the Internet from home.
5G opportunity
According to Ignacy Święcicki, chairman of the Digital Economic Council of the Polish Economic Association, the need to create a 5G network is needed to address the lack of access to high-speed lines. According to him, the following will be especially important in the future: the auction of frequencies in the C band scheduled for early 2022 and the allocation of 700 MHz bandwidth is possible in 2022. “In the first case, it is important to properly configure the coverage obligations. Select the appropriate model of the available frequency segment,” he explained.
As mentioned in the report, The average home internet speed in Poland at the end of 2020 is 62 Mbps (download) and 26.2 Mbps (upload). Behind such an indicator are “significant regional discrepancies and differences as a result of the technology used,” the researchers said.
“Across Poland, in the second quarter of 2020, residents of more than half the districts are at risk of some form of digital exclusion due to insufficient speed in downloading or uploading data” – we read. About 40 percent of the 184 Bowies lived there. In Poland’s population (15.3 million people), at least half of the tests performed on fixed or wireless connections did not show adequate data download speeds.
167 districts are excluded
As for mobile Internet access, tested on mobile devices (without the use of Wi-Fi networks), 167 boviats were at risk of at least one type of exclusion – 94 boviats, which represents the speed at which data can be downloaded and transmitted. Accepted communication skills limit. This is 44 percent respectively. And 25 percent all districts. It has been pointed out that the risk of exclusion due to the low quality of the mobile network is mainly related to Mazovia and Eastern voivodships.
Despite the epidemic, experts noted. From the beginning of 2019 to the end of 2020, the average speed (taking into account all the tests performed in Poland) increased by more than 50%, from 40.8 Mbps for the home Internet to 62 Mbps and 40%. For mobile connections (20.7 Mbps to 29 Mbps) In turn, the average speed at the Bowie level increased by 97%. These units have fixed lines and 74.7 percent. Wireless connections and 93.7 percent. For testing on mobile devices.
“Quick access to the Internet is provided by standard lines, and high speeds are recorded in the poviats of Wielkopolskie voivodship” – pointed out. In Poznań, the average download speed for the last quarter of 2020 was 114 Mbps (transmitting 81.45 Mbps), and in four Boviats it was 100 Mbps (roda, Gostyński, Gniezno, Poznań). On any other voivodeship – as indicated – there is not a single poviat with an average data download speed of more than 100 Mbps. At the end of the list, poviat cities include Tarnobrzeg and Zamość (average speed 50 Mbps), and Land poviats – Lipski (on Mazowiecie Voivodeship) average download speeds of 9 Mbps and 2.99 Mbps upload.
According to the PIE, in view of Poland’s development and ensuring that the so-called strategic recession “activities related to the allocation of frequencies should contribute to achieving the common goal of global access to high quality Internet”. It has been mentioned that the experiences of countries like Sweden, Italy and Germany should be inspiring.