Anti-monopoly issues in Polish telecommunications

Since 1990 the telecommunication sector in Poland has been undergoing rapid development and modernization. It is heavily dominated by Telekommunikacja Polska SA (TP SA), a state-owned company which is split into 10 regional directorates. Although TP SA enjoys a legal monopoly only over international traffic, it is a de facto monopolist in the Polish market too. Apart from difficulties in funding local telephone operations, many of the difficulties facing private competitors to TP SA focus on interconnection and pricing issues. The Anti-monopoly Office, which seeks to restrict unfair competition and restrictive business practices, has been monitoring the compliance of TP SA with the statutory standards. In its business practices TP SA has been reluctant to meet the required standards, particularly these relating to the setting of tariffs. This has been found to have a restrictive effect on the emergence of competition in the form of local operators.