The Polish mobile phone market is mature. Based on UKE data, in 2012 the market saturation rate measured by the number of SIM cards increased by 6.4%, to 140%, or 53.9 million active SIM cards. According to UKE, the mobile phone subscriber base in Poland is already highly developed, and an increase in the number of active SIM cards in the coming years will depend primarily on customers who choose to use more than one phone.

In 2012, the estimated value of the Polish mobile phone market, calculated as total revenue from retail services provided by all operators, was PLN 18.9bn, having increased approximately 1% on 2011 (UKE data). More than 80% of that revenue was generated by post-paid subscribers. ARPU in the mobile phone market has fallen steadily mainly due to reductions of MTR rates.

The Polish mobile phone market is highly competitive and relatively polarised. It is served by MNO and MVNO operators. Under the MVNO business model, existing MNOs provide virtual operators with licensed frequency allocations and the necessary infrastructure.

There are three leading MNOs in Poland:

• Polkomtel Sp. z o.o. (Plus network)
• Orange Polska S.A. – formerly PTK Centertel Sp. z o.o. (Orange network)
• T-Mobile Polska S.A. (T-Mobile network)

as well as four minor operators:

• P4 Sp. z o.o. (Play network)
• CenterNet
• Mobyland
• Aero2.

The charts below show operator shares as at the end of 2012:

Market share in terms of customer base

Market share in terms of revenue

Source: UKE, ‘Report on the condition of the Polish telecommunications market in 2012′.