Key organizations in the
Information Society sector in Poland include the national
government and local government administrations, private business
(SMEs), industry and services, research and technology
institutions and associations, and the media sector. The largest
computer and telecommunication companies active in Poland are
mainly subsidiaries of foreign companies (IBM, Oracle). However,
there is growth in Polish telecommunications companies, e.g.
Optimus and ATM SA.
- Telecomunikacja
Polska S.A is the largest Polish
telecommunication services operator, and has a monopoly
on international telephone connections. Cellular
telephone operators Centertel, ERA GSM and POLKOMTEL
follow it in size. The largest private local telephone
operator groups are the Netia Group, Poland Telecom
Operators, Electrim Group, and Telefonia Lokalna. There
are more than 350 Internet services providers, which
include large companies such as TP S.A., TELBANK, NASK,
Internet Partners and many SMEs.
- The Ministry of Posts
and Telecommunications is responsible for
telecommunication infrastructure development. Maciej
Srebro took up the position of Minister of Posts and
Telecommunications on 26 March 1999. The State Committee
for Scientific Research (KBN) coordinates the growth of
the Polish Internet and supports the development of
computer and Internet facilities for the scientific
community in Poland. The key persons in KBN responsible
for the Information Society is Undersecretary of State
Malgorzata Kozlowska and the director of the Information
Technology Systems department, Borys Czerniejewski, with
its National Contact Point for Global Information
Society. The other government bodies concerned with IS
issues are the Ministry of Economy and the Committee for
European Integration. In most ministries, special
departments or sections dedicated to IS development have
been established.
- In Poland approximately 150
university faculties or similar units dedicated
to studies in the area of IS technology have been
established. A list ranking the 100 most active Polish
researchers and successful competitors of KBN grants has
been compiled.
- The representative examples
of non-governmental organizations are
the Polish Chamber of Information Technology and
Telecommunications, the Polish Chamber of Electronics and
Telecommunications, the Association of Polish Software
Market "PRO", the Polish Forum of Information
Society, Cities in the Internet Association, the Polish
Information Processing Society, the Society for Open
Systems Development, and the Scientific Society for
Information Processing in Economy.
- Among computer and
telecommunications magazines and journals in
Poland are "Teleinfo",
"Computerworld", "Internet",
"Enter", "Networld". Many of them
provide yearly rankings of companies.
The key persons in areas related
to the IS in Poland are mainly the representatives of top
management and expert teams in the above mentioned organizations.
