Sistema Shyam TeleServices (SSTL), which operates under the MTS brand in India, has registered a net loss of Rs 406.3 crore for the third quarter ended September 30, as against Rs 437.9 crore in the year-ago period. However, the company’s consolidated revenues increased by 10% Y-o-Y to Rs 3,763 million (USD 59.2 million), mainly on account of data revenue growth.
The mobile ARPU for the quarter rose by 2.7% to Rs 137 (USD 2.2) on account of increase in growth in price per Mb. The non-voice revenues increased by 5.4% during the quarter and its contribution also rose by 270bps during the quarter.
Sergey Savchenko, Chief Executive Officer of Sistema Shyam TeleServices, said” “Once again, SSTL’s operational parameters have shown improvement during the quarter leading to 10% growth in consolidated revenues. In-addition, the contribution of our non-voice revenues further increased to 58% of our quarterly revenues, the highest in the industry.”
Recently, the company entered into a merger agreement with Reliance Communications and the transaction is expected to be closed in the second quarter of 2016.
Sergey added, “The signing of a definitive agreement with RCOM to merge the telecom business of SSTL is a milestone event. The merger once completed, will strengthen the competitive position of the combined entity by fast tracking the growth of LTE technology in India.”
SSTL’s mobile subscriber base slightly declined quarter-on-quarter and reached 8.4 million customers as of September 30, 2015. The company made investments to the tune of Rs 264 million (USD 4.2 million) during Q3 2015. Debt from banks and financial institutions at the end of September 30, 2015 stood at Rs 45.35 billion.
