Strong telecom noise from Russia and Belarus affecting Poland

Many of them are out of range of Polish cellular network providers with a dwindling number of available phone booths.

The worst affected are people who live in the vicinity of the Polish-Russian border.

To be able to phone their family members living in other regions, they either have to use roaming or buy a Russian SIM card as they are not covered by Polish networks, the daily writes.

The reason for this is, however, not the unavailability of Polish providers, but radio interference from Russian and Belarussian military installations which are strong enough to jam the polish signal.

“It is not enough for us to build newer transmitters closer to the border,” said Law and Justice (PiS) MP Wojciech Kossakowski. “Are the Russians and Belarussians specifically attempting to drown out Polish telecommunication? I surely hope not.”

Thus, building new cell sites would be to no avail. The daily also points out that, to make matters worse, the cross-border area has recently seen phone booths being removed by mobile operators claiming that their maintenance is unprofitable.

According to the daily, out of 650 such facilities only the half have left. In a case when a mobile network is unavailable, people have to be offered an alternative to call for help if need be, the question of security should prevail, the daily concludes. (mo)

Source: Gazeta Polska Codzienna