The data card base of Sistema Shyam Teleservices (SSTL) which operates in India as MTS India, grew to 1.95 million connections for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 (Q2 2015), up 8.9% from 1.8 million last quarter.
Non-voice revenues, from both data and mobile VAS, for the quarter increased by 13.4% during the quarter to 11.1% to Rs 207.2 crore, from Rs 182.7 crore last quarter. Non-voice revenues now contribute to 55.3% of total quarterly revenues for MTS. In the preceding quarter, non-voice revenues contributed 51.1% of total revenues. “The contribution of Non-voice revenues increased by 424 bps during the quarter,” the company said.
No updates on Reliance Communications merger yet
The company is currently in discussions with Reliance Communications for a potential merger, announced a couple of months ago. On the earnings conference call on 10th June, Mikhail Shamolin, President of Sistema JSFC had said that “We are negotiating with several participants for potential M&A transaction, and very soon we will come out with an official statement commenting on this. We’re making some progress down this path.” It’s now the end of August, but we have no updates.
Highlights
– Blended mobile ARPU for the quarter increased by 5% to Rs 134 from Rs 127 on account of increase in data usage. ARPU was up 19% year on year.
– Mobile subscriber base is on a declining trend quarter-on-quarter and reached 8.7 million connections, down from 8.9 million last quarter. The customer base has declined over the last three quarters.
– Its data services now cover over 1000 towns, up from 850 towns last quarter, across 9 circles.
– Consolidated revenues increased by 12% Y-o-Y to Rs 374.5 crore, mainly on account of data revenue growth, the company said in its statement
– MTS reported an OIBDA (Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization) loss of Rs 54.1 crore for Q2 2015, a reduction in OIBDA loss by 60% year on year. Sergey Savchenko, CFO at SSTL/MTS India said that the OIBDA narrowed due to “optimization of sales & marketing expenditure, increase in data revenues and reduction in interconnect charge. Going forward, we expect continuous improvement in OIBDA margins.”
– SSTL made investments of Rs 33.5 crore during Q2 2015. Debt from banks and financial institutions at the end of 31st March 2015 stands at Rs 4312 crore.
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