From what I'm seeing that was an underestimate. According to Internet World Stats, the current penetration in Poland stands at around 36.6% and that puts them into 9th place in Europe - with 14.4MM users.
Europe as a whole has an internet penetration well-above the average (43.4% versus 16.7% for the rest of the World - generating a 20% average).
It'd be interesting to see how different it is in some countries of Asia, Africa and South America - or how similar, who knows!
Regarding wireless vs fixed, it's true it depends on competition but it also depends on cost. The cost to offer a wireless service is much less than to offer fixed-line telephones. This results in that in many cases the government makes a big initial investment (years and years ago) and then in the most cases sells its shares to a private company, with all the infrastructure. If one company wants to enter the fixed-line, the investment is huge, plus they'll have extra competition from cable companies, etc.
It's not uncommon to see emerging markets with much more developed wireless networks that developed countries like the U.S.
It is something my country, Laos, can also relate with the fact
that the high speed internet access is still expensive for most people to have.
In addition, a computer is still an expensive thing to have for many
households. In contrast, a mobile phone is more affordable and competition
among telecom companies also plays the part. Consequently, in Laos the growth
of the used of mobile is higher than the internet.
I love Warsaw, love Poland. It's so great to see it featured in this series. I was in Warsaw in 1994, when they were opening their first KFC. At the time, it was a bit more behind the times than Prague and Budapest, and, from the looks of your report, it remains that way. It's interesting to see how the Internet is used by people who haven't had access from the the beginning. Thanks for the good work!
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