The Supreme Audit Office (NIK) said last week that nearly half the companies approved for funding had failed to proceed with projects intended to connect areas without adequate broadband coverage.
By the end of 2025, only 61 of 118 successful applicants had been carrying out projects under the European Funds for Digital Development (EFDD) program.
The initiative supports fixed broadband networks offering speeds of at least 300 megabits per second, with the option of upgrading them to gigabit capacity.
It focuses on "white spots," areas where commercial operators have not provided sufficient coverage because investment is considered unprofitable.
The audit office said companies often withdrew after further technical, economic and legal assessments showed that projects would generate limited returns. Some terminated contracts after work had begun.
As business interest declined, EU funding allocated to the program was cut by almost 60 percent in July last year, from PLN 4.5 billion to PLN 1.8 billion (EUR 420 million, USD 480 million). The reduced amount was fully assigned to projects by the Digital Poland Project Centre (CPPC).
Auditors said transferring the remaining funds to other programs reduced the risk that Poland would lose access to the money. It also demonstrated the limited ability of broadband projects in underserved areas to absorb the original allocation.
Spending remained low. By September 30, 2025, the CPPC had approved PLN 110.6 million in expenses submitted by beneficiaries, representing 5.9 percent of the funding awarded under signed contracts
At that point, about 60 percent of the average project period had elapsed. Beneficiaries had been working for almost 20 months on average, with about 15 months remaining before the spending deadline.
Less than 10 percent of the planned network had been built when the inspections ended, amounting to 1,530 kilometers out of a planned 15,819 kilometers.
Only 25 percent of the intended addresses had been brought within technical reach of the networks.
In 13 of the 17 projects, high-speed internet services had not yet been made available to customers. The work remained largely at the construction or technical coverage stage.
The audit office identified inaccurate and outdated information about buildings, addresses and existing telecommunications infrastructure as a central problem.
Changes to project plans removed 12.6 percent of the addresses originally due to receive coverage in 16 of the 17 projects. Some addresses were replaced with others after construction had already begun.
"Those were not isolated errors, but a weakness in the mechanism based on data supplied by telecommunications companies and subsequently used to plan and implement support," the audit office said.
Information was held in separate systems managed by the Ministry of Digital Affairs and the head of the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE). The discrepancies limited the CPPC’s ability to identify suitable locations and correct projects before contracts were signed.
The audit office called on the Ministry of Digital Affairs and the telecommunications regulator to provide complete and current information. It also renewed an earlier recommendation that data on infrastructure and addresses should be gathered through a single reporting system, with uniform submission deadlines.
Poland ranked 25th among the European Union’s 27 member states for broadband access in 2024, the report said.
At the end of 2025, fixed broadband covered almost 8 million of Poland’s 9.2 million registered building and property addresses. About 1.3 million addresses, or 14.5 percent, remained outside its reach.
(rt/gs)
Source: PAP