Business customer survey 2022
02 March 2023
The most frequently used telecommunications service by Polish companies in 2022 was mobile telephony. The second most used service by entrepreneurs was the internet. Fixed-line telephony services were provided to one in four entrepreneurs, according to the 2022 Business Customer Survey.
Mobile phone use
Mobile telephony services were used by 99.4% of companies in 2022. On average, there were 5.5 active SIM cards per entrepreneur. The average cost of the service was just over PLN 399.
In addition to being able to make voice calls, send SMS and MMS messages, business users used instant messaging installed on their smartphones. According to almost 63% of respondents, instant messaging could be the biggest competition for voice calls, significantly less than SMS and MMS.
The most commonly used instant messenger on business phones was Messenger. It was used by 81.5% of businesses. The second most used was WhatsApp, which was used by more than half of businesses.
For almost 65% of companies, instant messaging is more functional than mobile communication. Still, almost 84% of entrepreneurs are most likely to choose the mobile voice call service. The main advantage of instant messaging, according to the companies that use instant messaging most often for voice calls, is that the application is free of charge, as well as there are no costs for voice and text calls, including international calls.
Also in the case of sending SMS and MMS messages, Polish companies preferred traditional services via mobile networks.
Use of fixed telephony
Fixed telephony was much less frequently used in the business segment than mobile telephony. Only 24.6% of businesses had such services provided in 2022. The average cost of fixed telephony services was PLN 234.55 per month.
Entrepreneurs using a traditional telephony service primarily cited having it bundled with another service as the main reasons why they continued to use this service. Some respondents felt that fixed-line telephony makes it easier for the company to function and a fixed-line number increases the company's credibility. Almost one in four entrepreneurs used these services out of habit.
Almost 58% of companies using fixed telephony would be willing to give it up in favour of mobile telephony. 18.7% would switch to mobile services if the cost of fixed-line telephony increased, and 11.4% would consider switching if there were no unlimited minutes on their fixed-line service.
Use of the internet
Internet access was used by 91.4% of the companies surveyed in 2022. 70.7% of businesses used mobile access on a mobile phone, almost half used fixed access and 43.8% used mobile access on a computer, laptop or other mobile device. The average monthly cost of using the Internet was PLN 18.53 higher for mobile Internet (PLN 137.89) than for fixed-line Internet (PLN 119.36).
The Internet plays a very important role in the functioning of companies. For 36.5 per cent of entrepreneurs, it is a key tool, necessary for conducting the basic activities of the company.
The main purpose of having access to the Internet by companies is to obtain necessary information and communicate with customers (e-mail, instant messaging). With Internet access, entrepreneurs used information portals and internal communication within the company.
Software
Telecommunications entrepreneurs overwhelmingly use various types of solutions to increase the level of security on the Internet. The most commonly used security solution was anti-virus software, which was used by 84.6% of companies.
Over the Top" services
OTT services were used by 68.2% of the entrepreneurs surveyed in 2022. For just over half, their development had no impact on company's operations. 38.7% noticed an improvement in communication within companies. The most commonly used OTT services were online communication services such as Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber. These were used by more than 95% of companies. One in four entrepreneurs used application services such as navigation, location, cloud storage. One in five companies used video conferencing services (Skype, MS Teams, Zoom).
Entrepreneurs are not ready to give up traditional telecom services in favour of OTT. Only 7.6% of surveyed companies are willing to make such a change.
5G network
The concept of 5G networks was encountered by 92% of the companies surveyed. According to more than half of them, the development of 5G will have no impact on the operation of the company. Almost one in five company representatives is of the opinion that a 5G network will improve communication within the company.
Work automation
Only one in 20 companies are using work automation, and few more plan to use it in the future. The main reason why entrepreneurs are trying to replace human labour with artificial intelligence solutions is to keep up with technological developments, cited by 56% of companies using work automation.
Work automation is associated with both benefits and risks to the operation of the company. The most frequently cited benefit that automation brings is time savings, followed by increased productivity. When it comes to threats, company representatives are mainly concerned about employee redundancies and system failure rates.
Big Data
Fewer than half of companies associate the term Big Data in the context of company operations, and only one in five use Big Data processing. The main benefits associated with the use of Big Data are the reliability of the data, cited by almost 59% of those surveyed, an increase in end-customer satisfaction (52.2%) and an improvement in the company's management system (50.5%).
One in four entrepreneurs notes the possible risks of processing Big Data. According to almost 48% of respondents, these are breaches of privacy, for one in three companies such risks could be the risk of errors or the risk of abuse among data holders.
Cloud computing
The concept of cloud computing in the context of work life was encountered by 56.8% of companies. Cloud computing capabilities are used by 32.4% of entrepreneurs. The main benefits of the cloud, according to respondents, are security against data loss, cited by almost 73% of those using the solution, and performance and reliability (64.5%). Among the risks of cloud computing, the main risks mentioned were those related to data leakage due to failures (60.2%) and risks related to privacy and security of the cloud due to insufficient legal regulation of these issues (58.3%).
Telecommunications market assessment
The functioning of the domestic telecoms market was rated very highly from a company perspective. At least 87% of respondents expressed positive opinions in each of the aspects surveyed. The comprehensibility and simplicity of procedures were rated highest, with 94% of companies indicating very good and good on the rating scale.
78% of entrepreneurs believe that the development of the telecommunications market in Poland is positively influenced by the development of fibre-optic networks. On the other hand, factors that negatively affect the functioning of the market are excessive bureaucracy, low competition among operators, the economic situation and legal regulations.
Among the positive changes in the market, the dynamic development of technology, a greater number of offers and better customer service were particularly highlighted.
On the other hand, the most frequently noticed negative change was an increase in the prices of telecommunications services and a worse range of offers.
Enterprises participating in the survey gave a positive assessment of the activities of the Office of Electronic Communications. Three out of four companies have a very good or rather good opinion of UKE. Only one in ten entrepreneurs believes that the Office should implement additional measures aimed at companies, the most frequently mentioned being the introduction of facilitations for small and medium-sized enterprises and the shortening of administrative procedures.
More information in the report (PL)
