OREANDA-NEWS. On 18 August 2009 Uralsvayzinform (RTS and MICEX: /URSIP, ADRs: UVYZY/UVYZYP) – a leading provider of fixed-line and cellular telephony in the Urals region, hereby presented its unconsolidated operating and financial results for the first half of 2009 in accordance with Russian Accounting Standards (RAS).

The company’s revenue increased by 0.7% compared with the first half of 2008 and stood at Rub 20.1 bln.  Revenues were mainly impacted by the following factors:

A 2.8% increase in revenue from the provision of local telephony;

A 33.2% increase in revenue from the provision of Internet services and unregulated datacom services;

EBITDA [1] went up by 12.2% compared with the first six months of 2009.

EBITDA margin[2] amounted to 38.1%.  Operating margin came in at 20.4%.

Net profit increased by 17.7% and amounted to Rub 1.9 bln.  Net margin amounted to 9.6%.

The increase in main telephone lines in the first six months of 2009 stood at 2,000 lines.

Revenue from the provision of local voice telephony increased by 2.8% compared with the first six months of 2008 and amounted to Rub 5,245.2 mln.  Revenue from the provision of local voice telephony increased by 5.0% (+Rub 220.3 mln), including Rub 25.3 mln from the increase in main telephone lines, and Rub 195 mln from the change in the line distance tariff for local telephony (subscriber fee and monthly rental fee).

GSM cellular telephony

Revenue from the cellular business segment decreased by 2.9% compared with the first half of 2008 and stood at Rub 6,238.4 mln.  At the same time, compared with the first quarter of 2009, cellular revenue rose by 2.4% in the second quarter.

Average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) of GSM cellular subscriber stood at Rub 180 and Rub 203 in the first six months of 2009 and the first six months of 20008, respectively.