On paper, Poland looks like a fully mature mobile market. Nearly everyone already has a phone. Penetration is high. Competition is intense. There’s no obvious room left.

And yet, something interesting is happening.

The number of SIM cards in Poland keeps growing year after year. In 2025 alone, around 4 million new SIM cards were added, pushing the total to roughly 68 million. That’s close to two SIM cards per person.

This is no longer just about people owning phones. It’s about how connectivity is being used, layered, and multiplied across devices and use cases.

And increasingly, that growth is being driven by eSIM.

eSIM quietly enters the mainstream

Polish telecom operators introduced eSIM back in 2018. Fast forward to today, and every major network supports it.

But adoption is still uneven.

According to Orange Polska, around 1.4 million eSIMs are active in its network. The majority, over 1.3 million, are postpaid users, with a much smaller prepaid segment. T-Mobile Polska reports around 220,000 eSIM subscription users.

Other operators like Play and Plus have stayed quiet about their numbers. But based on available data, it’s reasonable to estimate that Poland now has up to 4 million active eSIMs across all networks.

That sounds like a lot. But when you compare it to the total SIM base, it’s still a relatively small slice of the market.

Which raises a bigger question: if eSIM is so convenient, why hasn’t it taken over faster?

What’s actually driving growth

The headline numbers don’t tell the full story.

A significant portion of SIM growth in Poland comes from M2M and IoT connections. Think smart meters, logistics tracking, connected devices. These aren’t traditional users, but they still count as SIMs.

Then there’s the second layer: multi-device usage.

Smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, laptops. Many of these now rely on eSIM. One user, multiple connections.

And finally, there’s behavior.

According to Mobile Vikings, more than 40% of all new SIM activations in 2026 are expected to be eSIMs. That’s up from around 30% in 2025.

Even more interesting is how people are using them.

Almost half of eSIM users treat them as temporary tools. They activate a second number for a specific purpose. Selling a car. Running an online marketplace listing. Managing short-term projects. Then they switch it off.

This is something traditional SIM cards were never designed for.

eSIM isn’t just replacing SIM. It’s changing how people think about connectivity.

The hesitation problem

And yet, despite all this momentum, plastic SIM cards are still dominant.

Why?

There are two main reasons.

First, device compatibility. Not every phone supports eSIM, especially in lower price segments. That alone slows adoption.

Second, and more important, is user psychology.

For many people, eSIM still feels abstract. You can’t touch it. You can’t swap it physically. If something goes wrong, it feels harder to fix.

There’s also a control issue. With a physical SIM, you feel like you own it. With eSIM, the process is invisible, managed through apps and QR codes.

For tech-savvy users, that’s an advantage.

For everyone else, it’s friction.

And in telecom, even small friction slows everything down.

A new competitive layer: telecom meets fintech

At the same time, something else is happening in Poland that could accelerate this shift.

Fintech is entering telecom.

Revolut, already operating in Poland under a Lithuanian banking license, is reportedly launching mobile services in the country. The promise is familiar but powerful: unlimited calls, texts, and large data bundles, all integrated into the app people already use daily.

This is where things get interesting.

Because eSIM fits perfectly into this model.

No physical distribution. No retail presence. No logistics. Just activation inside an app.

For fintech players, this is not just another product. It’s an extension of their ecosystem.

And for traditional telecom operators, it’s a new kind of competition they’re not fully prepared for.

The tourist battlefield is heating up

Another front is opening as well.

Tourism.

Operators in Poland are increasingly targeting travelers with app-based international data packages. Orange, for example, is pushing its Flex brand with flexible plans designed for short-term usage abroad.

This is essentially telecom adopting the logic that travel eSIM providers have been using for years.

Fast activation. App-first experience. No contracts.

The difference is that local operators already have the customer relationship.

But they’re now competing with global players who are built entirely around this use case.

This is where eSIM becomes strategic, not just technical.

Where this is going

If you zoom out, Poland is not an exception. It’s a preview.

Globally, eSIM adoption is accelerating. According to Juniper Research, there will be around 1.2 billion eSIM-enabled devices in use in 2025. By 2030, that number is expected to reach nearly 5 billion.

China is expected to be one of the biggest growth drivers. But Europe is not far behind, especially as device manufacturers continue pushing eSIM-only designs.

Apple has already moved in this direction in some markets. Others will follow.

And once hardware removes the option of physical SIM, the market will shift faster than expected.

What this means for the industry

Poland shows something important.

eSIM is not linearly replacing SIM.

It’s expanding the total number of connections.

More devices. More temporary numbers. More use cases.

Connectivity is becoming something you spin up when you need it, not something you commit to long-term.

And that fundamentally changes the business model.

Conclusion

The Polish market sits in an interesting middle ground right now. eSIM is no longer new, but it’s not dominant either. It’s growing, but quietly.

Compare this to markets like the US, where eSIM-only devices are already reshaping behavior, and to Asia, where scale and IoT adoption are driving massive growth, and you start to see the trajectory.

What’s different in Poland is the combination of factors happening at the same time. Strong traditional operators, rising MVNO activity, fintech entering telecom, and increasing demand from travelers.

That mix creates pressure.

And pressure accelerates change.

The real shift won’t come from better marketing or slightly cheaper plans. It will come from new distribution models.

App-first telecom. Embedded connectivity inside financial platforms. Temporary, on-demand numbers. Global data plans that don’t feel like roaming.

Players like Revolut are testing this from the fintech side. Travel eSIM providers like Airalo and Yesim are already operating globally with this logic. Operators like Orange are trying to adapt through sub-brands like Flex.

The question is not whether eSIM will grow.

That’s already happening.

The real question is who will control the customer relationship when connectivity becomes invisible.

Because once users stop thinking about SIM cards altogether, the winner won’t be the one with the best network.

It will be the one who owns the experience.

And that’s a very different game.