OREANDA-NEWS. December 22, 2011. Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd. (SSTL), which operates its telecom services under the MTS brand in India, today announces its unaudited consolidated US GAAP financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2011.

Key Financial & Operational Highlights for the Third Quarter of 2011

Consolidated revenues up by 18% Q-o-Q to INR 3,282 million (USD 72 million). Quarterly revenues continue to grow faster than wireless (Voice & Data) subscriber base, which was up by 13% to 13.27 million.

Non-voice revenues from both data and mobile VAS for the quarter up by 32% Q-o-Q to INR 1,052 million (USD 23 million), which now contributes 32% of total revenue and the contribution has increased by 3.4 p.p for the quarter. 

Blended mobile ARPU for the quarter increased to INR 85 vs. INR 82. The increase in ARPU is in contrast to a declining trend in the market.

SSTL’s data card subscriber base for the quarter up by 30% to 1.07 million subscribers. SSTL added 0.25 million data card subscribers during the quarter, highest additions in a quarter till date.

Consolidated OIBDA loss for the quarter stands at INR 4,584 million (USD 100 million). OIBDA margins improved 7 p.p. Q-o-Q.

SSTL launched, MTS MTAG 3.1 and MTS Livewire, India’s most affordable Android powered Smartphones in the Sub INR 5,000 category. With the launch of affordable Smartphones, SSTL takes the power and appeal of Android to the masses.

According to Vsevolod Rozanov, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd, “SSTL has once again demonstrated robust growth across its key business metrics. The market response to our data centric: voice enabled strategy continues to be extremely positive. Infact, Government’s intent to increase broadband penetration in the country, as outlined in the Draft National Telecom Policy 2011 also supports our business strategy. However, we are awaiting further clarity on issues, such as additional spectrum availability. Inspite of all these challenges, we are committed to further drive growth in data usage amongst the masses, with smartphones and tablets playing a major role in this process”