OREANDA-NEWS. Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd. (SSTL), which operates its telecom services under the MTS brand in India, today announces its unaudited consolidated financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2014.

Key Financial & Operational Highlights for the First Quarter 2014

Consolidated revenues increased by 6.4% Q-o-Q to INR 3,188 million(USD 51.6 million), mainly on account of increase in minutes of usage and data revenues growth.

Blended mobile ARPU for the quarter increased by 9.8% to INR 107 (USD 1.73) on account of increase in minutes of usage.

Minutes of usage increased by 10.9% to 414 during the quarter (Q-o-Q).

Success of SSTL's data strategy is evident with non-voice revenues contributing 35.3% of total quarterly revenues, the highest in the industry. The contribution of Non-voice revenues increased by 87bps during the quarter.

SSTL's HSD services now cover over 600 towns across 9 circles.

Non-Voice revenues grew 9.1% during the quarter.The Company's data card subscriber base for the quarter decreased by 4% to 1.29 million subscribers, on account of cleaning up of inactive subscribers.

Consolidated OIBDA loss for the quarter stands at INR 975 million (USD 15.8 million).

According to Dmitry Shukov, Chief Executive Officer of Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd,”During the quarter our revenues grew by 6.4% Q-o-Q, largely driven by growth in minutes and in non-voice revenues. We also launched most aggressive data plans in the country to further supplement our 3G PLUS network. We expect strong momentum in data to continue.”Dmitry further added”With the new government now in place, we expect greater clarity to emerge on the pricing and subsequent auction of 800MHz”.