Today, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Digital Affairs, the Polish Development Fund, EXATEL and representatives of commercial telecommunication companies signed a memorandum on analysing the business model for the #Polskie5G [Polish5G] company.
The objective of this initiative is to ensure access to 5G services throughout Poland. This will enable users to freely use the network at any place and time.
“5G technology is today one of the foundations for economic development. We have to stop using arguments related only to speed in the context of a fifth-generation network. 5G primarily provides great opportunities for industry, city development, modern transport and an entire spectrum of medicine-related services” – emphasized Marek Zagórski, the Minister of Digital Affairs, during the meeting.
The undertaking will enable a reduction in the costs of constructing telecommunications infrastructure, by introducing competitive service fees. The priorities specified in the memorandum signed today include ensuring infrastructure enabling digital economy development and the provision of a high level of cybersecurity.
“The #Polskie5G memorandum marks the beginning of a new era in the Polish digitization history. Today we have shown that the policy of building our country’s cybersovereignty is based on cooperation between state-owned and private operators, both domestic and foreign. There is still a lot of work ahead of us and our partners, but I am convinced that the #Polskie5G project will be a valuable lesson to other countries, showing that it is possible to build cybersovereignty without closing the country for the private sector and foreign entities.” – said Nikodem Bończa Tomaszewski, EXATEL’s President, after the meeting.
Under the signed document, all parties declared their willingness to cooperate in terms of analysing the concept of establishing #Polskie5G – a single, wholesale operator of a nationwide wireless network for 5G mobile connectivity, operating in the 700 MHz band.
“Signing the #Polskie5G memorandum is just the start of a journey towards solving the fundamental telecommunications-related problems of Poland, such as the lack of mobile network coverage throughout the entire country or the lack of a Special Connectivity Wireless Network for the Polish Armed Forces, uniformed services, emergency services or critical infrastructure operators. Joint #Polskie5G infrastructure also means lowered network construction and operating costs, and lower electromagnetic emission relative to building several networks separately” – added Bończa Tomaszewski.
The arrangements worked out within working groups will be forwarded to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Digital Affairs.
Signatories to the memorandum were the President of the Polish Development Fund – Paweł Borys and his Deputy Tomasz Fill; President of EXATEL – Nikodem Bończa Tomaszewski, proxy of that company, Michał Szczęsny; Member of the Board at Orange – Witold Drożdż; Member of the Management Board at Polkomtel – Wojciech Pytel; and Member of the Board at T-Mobile – Włodzimierz Nowak. The ceremony was attended by Marek Zagórski, the Minister of Digital Affairs, and Małgorzata Zakrzewska – representative of P4.
A next session of the working group was agreed upon during the meeting.
