Hit by the rupee depreciation against the dollar, Sistema Shyam Teleservices (SSTL) that operates telecom services under the MTS brand, on Monday reported a net loss of Rs 1,180 crore in the second quarter ended June 30, compared with Rs 657 crore in the corresponding period last year.
The decline in the net profit was also led by the average revenue (ARPU) per user and minutes of use (MoU) from customers. The ARPU for the quarter declined by 2.3 per cent Rs 83 and MoU declined to 281 minutes.
However, the company’s revenue grew 50 per cent to Rs 417 crore during the quarter compared with Rs 278 crore in second quarter last year.
“Our data card subscriber base continues to grow in double digits despite recent tariff reduction by 3G operators,” Vsevolod Rozanov, President and Chief Executive Officer, SSTL, said.
He said despite recent regulatory and tax developments, that impacted the growth of the Indian telecom industry, SSTL has maintained its scale of operations and grown its business by strengthening all its revenue lines.
Its data card subscriber base for the quarter stood at 1.73 million and added 0.18 million subscribers (for data card) during the quarter.
Total wireless (voice and data) subscriber base for the quarter grew by 4.9 per cent to 16.60 million, he said.
Licence issue
On the issue of licence cancellation, he said SSTL’s licences that are valid till January 18.
The company is taking all the necessary legal steps of the Indian judicial system to safeguard its interest so that it can invest more in the country, Vsevolod Rozanov said, adding that SSTL raised Rs 500 crore from banks during April-June quarter.
“As part of the same strategy, SSTL on May 4 filed a curative petition in Supreme Court. We have consistently maintained that its legal case is significantly different compared to the other mobile operators,” he said.
The company is also awaiting more clarifications from the Department of Telecom on the availability of spectrum as well as licence and auction guidelines, he added.