Sistema Shyam to double marketing spend in next six months

The company slowed down its marketing and branding campaigns after September 2012 due to concerns related to business uncertainty following cancellation of its licences

Telecom operator Sistema Shyam Teleservices, which operates under brand name MTS India, will double its marketing spend in the course of next six months as the company embarks on major campaigns.

"In the next six months, we are going to invest almost what we had spent during the full 12 months period last year. On year-on-year basis, the spend during second half of this year is going to double of the amount we invested during the same period a year ago," MTS' Director for Brand and Media, Amitesh Rao told PTI.

He, however, did not disclose any figures.

Rao said the company had slowed down its marketing and branding campaigns after September 2012 due to concerns related to business uncertainty following cancellation of its licences.

The company is now back with big plans after winning airwaves for 8 circles earlier this year.

"We are back with our plan after things became clear post March 2013 auction where MTS won spectrum for 8 circles and now has operation in 9 service area," Rao said.

SSTL won fresh spectrum only in eight circles -- Delhi, Kolkata, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh (West) & West Bengal -- for Rs 3,639 crore in the auction.

The company already had its operations running in Rajasthan service area.

He said that due to services now limited to only in 9 service areas, there will be larger focus to have localised content rather than going national.

"We will be running around 5 big campaigns in next six months which will include TV commercials, print and online. This time our media plan will reach out more to local and vernacular medium compared. It will be less focussed on national media," Rao said.

The company will use TV advertisements for promoting voice services and support it with print and online promotions.

"For data (mobile Internet) campaigns, we will focus more on Internet and print which will be supported by TV campaigns. There will be more visibility and frequency of advertisements now in the 9 service areas where the company operates," Rao said.

Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL) is a venture, involving equity participation by Sistema of Russia, the Government of the Russian Federation and the Shyam Group of India.