Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL), which provides CDMA services under the MTS brand in India, has pared losses to Rs 844.7 crore in the second quarter ended June 30.
The Indian arm of the Russian conglomerate Sistema had posted a net loss of Rs 1,180.1 crore for the same quarter a year ago, the company said in a statement.
“SSTL, during the quarter, focused on further optimising its operations after the finalisation of its nine-circle footprint in March 2013.” SSTL Chief Executive Officer Dmitry Shukov said.
On February 2, 2012, the Supreme Court had cancelled SSTL’s 22 licences (of the total 23). The company had won back eight circles during the spectrum auction in March 2013.
SSTL’s revenues on fell 30 per cent to Rs 290.9 crore during the quarter under review, compared with Rs 417.7 crore posted during the same period a year ago, following a reduction in footprint.
However, its revenues in nine operational circles grew by 2.4 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis.
The company’s non-voice revenues contributed 34.4 per cent of the total quarterly revenues. SSTL’s data card subscriber base fell by 1.7 per cent on account of clean up.
During the quarter, its blended mobile Average Revenue Per User, a metric to gauge the financial health of a telecom company, rose by 9 per cent to Rs 89.
During the quarter, SSTL’s mobile subscriber base fell by 19 per cent (quarter-on-quarter) to reached 9.8 million customers as of June 30.