Telecommunications infrastructure in rural development

Rural areas make up the majority of the territory of Poland, inhabited by a significant part of the population. The development of rural areas depends on many, very diverse, factors, including access to telecommunications infrastructure determining the ability to use information and telecommunications technologies. The objective of this article is the present the legal issues concerning telecommunications infrastructure in rural areas. The completion of this research objective requires the clarification of basic notions. The article proposes a definition of rural areas, as well as discusses the definition of telecommunications infrastructure and its characterization, with particular focus on the fact that the development of telecommunications infrastructure is a public goal, carried out mostly by private entities owing to the fact that such infrastructure is the prerequisite for rendering telecommunications services. The article also points out that legal regulations concerning telecommunications investments in rural areas should, on the one hand, account for the need to protect the production value of agricultural land, which is significant from the perspective of ensuring food safety and protection of the natural environment, and on the other hand, they should ensure access to information and telecommunications technologies, which is important for the protection of acquisition and dissemination of information. The article’s analysis of provisions which, on the one hand, aim to protect the productive value of agricultural land, and on the hand, of provisions designed to facilitate the completion of investment goals related to telecommunications infrastructure, brings the conclusion that the adopted solutions are not of a complex nature. The assessment of the mutual relations between provisions contained in different legal acts causes numerous difficulties. For the interpretation of these provisions, it is necessary to refer to the values that they are to protect. It must not be forgotten that the solutions adopted within this scope are meant to, firstly, serve the residents of rural areas, who are interested in both preservation of the agricultural character of these areas, and in access to information and telecommunications technologies