Sistema India phone unit net loss widens

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Russian conglomerate Sistema's Indian mobile phone services unit reported a wider quarterly loss on Monday, hurt mainly by one-off impairment costs as it shut down operations in more than a dozen service areas.

Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd won back airwaves in eight zones for about $654 million in an auction in March, after all but one of its 22 zonal permits were ordered to be cancelled as part of a court order.

Sistema Shyam said it posted a net loss of 6.4 billion rupees for the three months to March, compared with a net loss of 5.3 billion rupees a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter fell 14 percent from a year earlier to 3.5 billion rupees.

However, operating loss (operating income before depreciation and amortization) narrowed to 2.1 billion rupees, from 3.6 billion rupees a year earlier, and the company said March quarter OIBDA loss was the lowest in three years.

Sistema Shyam wrote-off 1.7 billion rupees as it shutdown services in 13 zones, Chief Financial Officer Sergey Savchenko said at a news conference in New Delhi.

Sistema said last month it would hold back on major investment in the Indian mobile unit over the next three years to concentrate on making the operation profitable by mid-2015.

(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Anand Basu)