Poland’s telecommunications market is facing growing challenges, from rapidly increasing data traffic to the security of critical infrastructure. Operator investment and stable regulation are becoming decisive factors for its further development, as they are expected to ensure continued network expansion and resilience. At the same time, increasing emphasis is being placed on Europe’s technological sovereignty.
“If we are talking about digital infrastructure, we must remember one very important thing: these are investments made by domestic and foreign operators. The Office is an institution whose role is to support the development of this market and help its participants so that end customers are satisfied with it and the quality of services provided remains at the highest possible level at a relatively affordable price,” Krzysztof Kuna, President of the Office of Electronic Communications, said in an interview with Newseria.
The development of digital infrastructure is one of the key goals of the EU’s “Digital Decade 2030” strategy, which aims to ensure full household coverage with gigabit networks and access to 5G in all populated areas. However, the European Commission’s “State of the Digital Decade 2025” report shows that progress remains uneven. Across the EU, very high-capacity networks cover 82–85 percent of households, while 5G coverage exceeds 90 percent of the population. At the same time, the European Commission points out that achieving the 2030 targets will require additional connectivity investment of tens of billions of euros annually, with the total investment gap estimated at EUR 170–200 billion by the end of the decade.
In Poland, infrastructure development is accelerating thanks to investment by operators and public funding, including EU programmes. According to data from the Ministry of Digital Affairs, projects financed under the European Funds for Digital Development and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan are expected to cover around 927,000 address points. The combined budget of these programmes exceeds EUR 2 billion, making it the largest support package for broadband network development in Poland’s history. Thanks to these investments, more than 1.6 million households may gain access to very high-speed internet. By the end of 2025, around 85 percent of all address points in the country were within the reach of fixed broadband internet access.
“The market in Poland is highly diversified and competitive. This is very positive and beneficial, but the directions of its development depend on arrangements between operators — small, medium-sized and large — and the Office, as well as on legislation and, above all, on the will of end customers. The Office’s position is to safeguard the quality of digital solutions and services provided to subscribers,” Krzysztof Kuna said. “Without investment in infrastructure, meaning innovation, improved quality of services and devices, better coverage and access, we cannot talk about security or the full availability of services in Poland.”
The importance of investment is increasing alongside rapidly growing demand for data transmission and the development of digital services. According to GSMA Intelligence’s “The Mobile Economy Europe 2025” report, average monthly data traffic per mobile connection in Europe rose from 3.8 GB in 2019 to 15.3 GB in 2024 and is expected to reach 49 GB by 2030. By then, 5G is expected to support around 80 percent of all mobile connections, compared with 30 percent at the end of 2024.
As digital infrastructure becomes increasingly important, greater attention is being paid to its resilience and operational security. In an environment of geopolitical tensions and growing economic dependence on digital services, network stability is becoming one of the key elements of national security.
“The role of regulators in building technological sovereignty can be understood in many ways, but I would focus primarily on their role in ensuring stable network infrastructure. This is the most important issue, which is then supplemented by other regulations,” said Karol Krzywicki, Deputy President of the Office of Electronic Communications.
The direction of regulatory change in the European Union points to a further strengthening of network resilience and digital infrastructure security. The aim is to ensure the continuity of key services amid a growing number of threats. Many of these regulations, such as the Digital Networks Act and the NIS 2 Directive, envisage new tasks and responsibilities for telecommunications market regulators.
In January 2026, the European Commission presented a draft Digital Networks Act, which is intended to be the largest reform of the EU telecommunications market in years. The new rules are designed to harmonise market conditions, increase the scale of operators’ activities and encourage investment in digital infrastructure. At the same time, cybersecurity regulations are being developed, including the Cyber Resilience Act, which introduces security requirements for hardware and software. These proposals are currently subject to legislative work and discussions between member states, operators and EU institutions.
“The emphasis on increasing technological, but also military and political, sovereignty will certainly grow,” Karol Krzywicki said.
As he pointed out, this can be seen in many areas of the telecommunications market. It concerns the development of mobile communication networks and fibre-optic networks, as well as satellite connectivity.
“The European Union is working on its own constellations of satellites in low Earth orbit, which are intended to provide communication for the state and citizens in emergency and crisis situations. The entire complex of different types of networks and their resilience is a matter of technological sovereignty,” the Deputy President of UKE said. “We can also talk about other elements, such as data centres and cloud infrastructure, which are now being implemented very intensively and also include this important aspect: sovereignty.”
