Sistema Shyam Teleservices (SSTL) which operates in India as MTS India, saw a significant 26% decline in in its data card subscribers for the quarter – registering 1.16 million subscribers for the quarter ending June 30, 2013 (Q2 2013). The company attributed this decline to the reduction in the number of its operational circles. Sistema had shut down its operations in 10 telecom circles in February 2013 and shut down its operations in additional three circles in the following month. SSTL noted that this was the first quarter after the transition to nine operational circles. SSTL said that data card subscriber base declined by only 1.7% in nine operational telecom circles, due to subscriber base clean up and its active subscriber base continues to grow, although SSTL didn't disclose any specific numbers on the active subscribers. Non-voice revenues which includes data and VAS revenues, was at Rs 100.1 crore for the quarter, down 20% from Rs 125.5 crore revenues in the previous quarter. Non-voice revenues accounted for 34.4% of the total quarterly revenues, down from 35.7% in the previous quarter. Highlights - Blended mobile ARPU increased by 9% to Rs 89 for the quarter, up from Rs 81 in the previous quarter. The company attributed this increase to elimination of the impact caused by lower ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) from the circles it exited earlier this year. - Minutes of Use increased to 328 million minutes for the quarter, up 11% from 295 million minutes reported in the previous quarter. - SSTL reported a total mobile subscriber base of 9.8 million customers for the quarter ending June 30,…
