SSTL net loss widens to Rs 391 cr in Q1

Revenues rise 12% to Rs 358 crore, driven largely by increase in data revenues

Losses at Sistema Shyam Teleservices, which operates mobile services under the MTS brand, widened to Rs 391 crore during the first quarter ended March 31.

The company had registered a net loss of Rs 316.2 crore in the January-March 2014 quarter.

However, its revenues grew 12% to Rs 357.8 crore in the said quarter compared with Rs 318.8 crore in the year-ago period, driven largely by increase in data revenues.

"Our non-voice revenues continued to show strong growth during the quarter. It now contributes 51% of the total quarterly revenues," SSTL Chief Executive Officer Dmitry Shukov said.

The growth in data revenues was driven by increase in subscriber base and continued expansion of HSD footprint across nine circles, he added.

The non-voice revenues increased by 11.1% during the quarter. The data card subscriber base for the quarter was up 9.4% to 1.8 million subscribers.

The blended mobile average revenue per user (ARPU) for the quarter increased by 4.2% to Rs 127 ($2) on account of increase in data usage.

SSTL made investments of Rs 49.6 crore ($8 million) during the first quarter of 2015. Debt from banks and financial institutions stood at Rs 3,587 crore at the end of March 31.

"Consolidation within the Indian telecom sector is bound to happen. The key catalysts now are the spectrum sharing and trading guidelines, which are expected to be issued by the government. One hopes that clarity on such regulatory issues is received at the earliest," he said.