Backed by MBlaze Broadband, MTS India Targets Break Even

MTS Sistema Shyam BreakevenMTS India’s Data ARPUs have grown 12.4% to INR 321 while data subscribers grew by 8.5%. To compete with 3G data offerings of incumbents, MTS MBlaze has launched 3G Plus network with data speeds of up to 9.8 mbps and deeper in-building penetrations. With licenses in the most efficient, 800 MHz spectrum band in nine circles that have the most data potential, management has focused on improving revenue and profitability through its high ARPU data business.

MTS India reported revenue of INR 3.2bn, growth of 5% QoQ, driven by 14.8% data growth and flat voice revenue
growth. Voice RPM improvement of 3.7% to INR 0.212 / min led to a 3.9% traffic decline to 9.68bn minutes. Despite the healthy voice RPM improvement, voice subscribers remain flat despite nearly 3mn subscriber additions by large telcos while MOUs remain flat at 416min. ARPU grew by 7.5% to INR 115, owing to data growth.

MTS / Shyam Sistema Telecom targets to reach full break-even by the end of this fiscal. This would be possible only by strong revenue growth as there is little scope for further cost optimization. Management has indicated interest in acquiring 800 Mhz spectrum & exploring LTE development, and does not seem to show impatience over high loss accumulations.