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 third quarter ended September 30, 2014.

Key Financial & Operational Highlights for the Third Quarter 2014

Consolidated revenues increased by 20% Y-o-Y to INR 3,427 million (USD 56.5 million), mainly on account of data revenue growth.

Blended mobile ARPU for the quarter increased by 2% to INR 117 (USD 1.93) on account of increase in data usage.

Non-Voice revenues grew 14% during the quarter. The Company's data card subscriber base for the quarter increased by 6.3% to 1.5 million subscribers.

Success of SSTL's data strategy is evident with non-voice revenues contributing 43% of total quarterly revenues, highest in the industry. The contribution of Non-voice revenues increased by 447bps during the quarter.

Minutes of usage decreased by 3.7% to 401 during the quarter (Q-o-Q) due to seasonality.

SSTL's HSD services now cover over 700 towns across 9 circles.

Consolidated OIBDA loss for the quarter stands at INR 1,037 million (USD 17.1 million).

According to Dmitry Shukov, Chief Executive Officer of Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd, “During the quarter, our non-voice revenues grew by 14% thereby contributing 43% of the total revenues. The results have once again demonstrated the market acceptance of our world class 3G plus network.” Dmitry further added “To further strengthen, the data story in India, it is imperative that the government comes out with a clear roadmap on spectrum sharing and trading. We are hopeful that as this happens, it would give a boost to broadband penetration in the country.”