One of the discussions in the “Rzeczpospolita” Lounge focused on the issue of digital exclusion in the context of investments and competences.
- During the pandemic, many people started to use modern digital technologies. We had to learn how to navigate the digital world the hard way, as we have never before had to master the use of various applications, for example to conduct remote conferences, in such a short period of time. We have also been forced to handle our official and business matters online - commented Krzysztof Szubert, plenipotentiary of the Republic of Poland for the UN Digital Summit - IGF 2021. - The number of the so-called trusted profiles has sharply increased. There were 4 million of them before the pandemic, no there are more than 10 million - he added.
Which groups of people are affected by digital exclusion?
Experts were discussing whether we can still talk about digital exclusion in the case of Poland. - The problem of digital exclusion resembles a syndrome, since usually more than one variable is at play. Areas most susceptible to this phenomenon include those less accessible in terms of transport, but also those suffering from depopulation and an above-average share of elderly people - explained Wojciech Pawlak, director of the NASK National Research Institute. As Mr Pawlak noted, however, one cannot rely solely on the indicators, as these are partly distorted. - Elderly people, which is understandable, are drivign down the average, but young people are pushing it up, because they spend about five hours online in addition to remote learning, as our research indicates. From the geographical perspective, we are dealing with digital exclusion mainly in the east of the country, in central Pomerania and in areas bordering the Kaliningrad region - commented Mr Pawlak.
- Orange sees two aspects of the problem of digital exclusion. Access to the Internet is only one side of the coin. The other is the ability to navigate the digital world. This is what the Orange Foundation has been helping to promote for 16 years. Of course, the pandemic has accelerated the acquisition of new digital skills by our customers, but there is still a lot to be done in that area - said Julien Ducarroz, President of Orange Polska. He emphasised that Orange has been investing in fibre-optic infrastructure for several years, which proved to be of crucial importance during the pandemic, since Poland, like the rest of the world, saw a sharp increase in demand for data transmission solutions. Currently, over 5.4 million households is using the operator's fibre-optic services. - We will continue these investments also in the context of the construction of the 5G network in Poland - added the head of Orange Polska.
New infrastructure
Jean-Marc Harion, CEO of P4 (Play network operator) agreed with these observations. - The pandemic has increased traffic in the network by almost 50 per cent. It has changed people’s digital behaviour. Currently there are over 6 million people using our mobile applications - said Mr Harion. In his opinion, a major risk for Poland is a division of its citizens into two groups of digitally competent and excluded people, if access to the Internet and the opportunity to learn how to use applications is not provided for everyone. - Further expansion of the infrastructure is needed, but as operators we should consider the possibility of its sharing, as it would not be economically justified for each of the four leading operators in Poland to build its own infrastructure only for its own needs - explained the head of Play.
