The Internet services market is engaged in a battle. In reality, it is sluggish and contrived. Unattractive offers for appallingly expensive Internet connections do not even try to compete with one another. But why compete as long as there are customers able to pay the dictated price?
Virtual competition
Over the past few months, Telekomunikacja Polska has presented several proposals for permanent Internet access. Neostrada 128 kbit/s is the service that most tempts customers with its attractive price. The monthly fee of PLN 59 appeals to the imagination of Internet users whose household budgets are already under strain. There is no rose without thorns, however. After the 5 GB limit is exceeded, the already modest speed of 128 kbit/s drops to the tortoise-like 32 kbit/s, all too familiar to frustrated modem users. For those who need actual Internet access rather than a substitute, the only option left is Neostrada's fastest (640 kbit/s) and unlimited plan, naturally at a correspondingly higher price—PLN 139.25.
Little changes in Dialog's offer. VAT has naturally disappeared, and a promotion has been introduced for installing broadband DSL access; the installation price has fallen from PLN 400 to PLN 96. There is still no counteroffer to Neostrada 128, which is already available practically throughout the country, unlike Dialog's DSL. The latter is offered only in Wrocław, Legnica, Lubin, Zielona Góra and Łódź, and even there only in selected districts. The rest of Dialog's subscribers are left with the Dialnet CDI service, with its modest speed of 115 kbit/s. The monthly fee for such a connection is higher than the cleverly advertised PLN 83.20. A fixed fee of PLN 6.10 must be added to that price. As if that were not enough, another PLN 14.64 must be added—the fee for an ISDN line, without which Dialnet CDI cannot be provided. In total, it comes to approximately PLN 104 per month. That is a lot for such a slow connection.
An offer under construction
Dialog's current marketing policy in the area of Internet services is, to put it mildly, incomprehensible. Its outdated offer certainly does not fit current market conditions. In response to numerous inquiries about a counteroffer, Dialog's Customer Service Office provides evasive answers. Customer service employees continue to say—perhaps even truthfully—that work is under way on a new offer, and encourage people to visit the operator's website. There is no new information on the site, however.
Conversations with the company's consultants reveal that Dialog is considering two options. It will either offer broadband connections at a lower price or reduce the price of the slow services it currently offers. In Bolesławiec, a proposal for an inexpensive fast connection, however spectacular, would unfortunately achieve nothing. Dialog has no plans to expand its network in Bolesławiec, and the existing network does not allow data to be transmitted quickly. There would therefore be nothing to offer. The only hope is that the operator will lower the price of its existing services.
Fellow sufferers
Residents of larger cities are in a better situation. There, more companies offer network access, so people do not have to rely on telecommunications operators. Poland's largest cable network, UPC, recently expanded its Internet offer with a new chello light package. For PLN 69 per month, customers receive Internet access at a speed of 256 kbit/s.
And in Bolesławiec? The municipal cable television network does not provide this type of service, although that has not stopped it from making promises for more than two years. There are, however, several companies offering wireless network access. In this case, the monthly subscription costs approximately PLN 55.
Residents manage somehow nonetheless. The most popular solution is to create small computer networks serving up to a dozen households. The local network is usually connected to the Internet by purchasing the most expensive Neostrada option, making the data transmission speed quite acceptable. Users share the one-time installation costs, which amount to no more than PLN 50. Monthly fees range from PLN 10 to 40. This is a sort of alternative to expensive individual connections, but it requires resourcefulness and cooperation among neighbours.
Quilted luxury
It is impossible to avoid the impression that, for Polish Internet service providers, the ability to offer customers a connection to the global network is a great luxury. Or at least that is how providers price their offers. Companies regard selling Internet connections as an honour and privilege at least as great as offering customers the most expensive collections by outstanding fashion designers. Poles are therefore left with no choice but to start treating network access as a luxury too.
An Internet connection is nevertheless a somewhat less sophisticated commodity than many businesses would like it to be. The technology is well established, having been developed over thirty years; there is no need to develop patents or design innovative solutions. Essentially, it is enough to invest a little money in purchasing ready-made systems, and one can start selling connections.
And this is presumably where the heart of the problem lies—in the magic word “invest,” which fills Polish entrepreneurs with dread. Because of their fear of spending an extra złoty, telecommunications companies and other operators continue to offer a product from the category of quilted padded coats at a price as though the coats had been designed by Dior himself.
Eldorado across the ocean
In the United States, Internet access became popular in 1996. That was when WebTV, a combination of a television set and a web browser, began to be promoted. Falling prices of desktop computers and laptops also had a major influence on the development of the network. At the end of the 1990s, unlimited access via a telephone line at 56 kbit/s cost between 15 and 40 dollars a month. Over the past two years, the prices of such services have fallen to around 10 dollars because of the growing popularity of DSL connections and those offered by cable networks.
Sylwester Łukasiewicz, Boleslawiec.org's correspondent in New York, describes today's vast choice of Internet access, from ordinary telephone connections (56 or 128 kbit/s), through cable television (an average of 2 Mbit/s) and DSL (from 128 kbit/s to 19.2 Mbit/s), to optical connections (up to 155 Mbit/s). Wireless Internet, meaning wireless access, is also very popular. Speeds for this service reach up to 50 Mbit/s.
Almost everything free
The most popular connections used by the average American customer are DSL and cable television. The quality of the services provided is high because of intense competition. American society is, after all, known for constantly moving from place to place, from one insurance company to another, from one doctor to another, depending on the quality of the services.
That is why the basic package offered by Internet providers includes unlimited connection time, a free firewall, free antivirus protection and free, round-the-clock telephone technical support. Companies often offer the first two months free or at a reduced price with a one- or two-year contract. Connecting to the network is also free.
The new is coming
“I was able to watch the Eurovision Song Contest live only because of a fast Internet connection; it was not broadcast on any television channel. The transmission looked and sounded excellent,” writes Sylwester Łukasiewicz. The price of access via cable television (2 Mbit/s), which our correspondent uses, is just under 50 dollars a month. Calculated on the basis of the price of bread in Poland and the United States, this amounts to approximately PLN 75.
The availability of broadband Internet connections will certainly change the telecommunications services market. We will watch television over the Internet, listen to music online and talk to friends without using a telephone... It is no wonder that existing operators fear such a change in their offer. It could turn out that nobody wants to buy their old, worn-out products anymore.
But on the other hand, if demand is growing so quickly, perhaps it is worth taking a risk with padded coats—even ones made of more fashionable denim?
Krzysztof Gwizdała