MTS crosses 10-mn customer base, unveils new tagline

Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (SSTL), which owns the MTS brand, today said it had crossed the 10-million subscriber mark in India and to celebrate the achievement, it has come out with a new tagline, ‘A Step Ahead’.

MTS has also launched the MTS Pulse, the company’s first Android-powered Smartphone, designed by Taiwanese manufacturer HTC, SSTL said in a statement. The customer does not need to make any upfront payment for the phone, but is required to sign up for a monthly contract with a Rs 1,500 rental charge and a lock-in period of 12 months, based on which the customer would get the smartphone for free.

Additionally, the customer would get 1,500 minutes, 1,500 SMSes and 1,500 Mb of data usage every month for 12 months, the company said in a statement. SSTL is a joint venture between Sistema of Russia and the Shyam Group of India. “It is indeed a proud moment for me and the entire MTS team to have crossed the 10 million customers milestone,” President and Chief Executive Officer Vsevolod Rozanov told reporters here.

From a new entrant in 2009, MTS has grown to become a CDMA operator providing telecom services to over 10 million customers. At present, the company’s network facilitates coverage of 85 per cent of subscribers in the country and over 92 per cent of the data services potential. MTS also has to its credit over 500,000 mobile broadband customers in over 130 towns across India.

“We are excited to unveil the new MTS brand, in line with MTS’ global strategy,” SSTL Chief Marketing Officer Leonid Musatov told reporters.

Meanwhile, SSTL today said it would appoint investment bankers in the next few months for the company’s planned initial public offering (IPO). “We are in talks with various merchant bankers and it is a matter of couple of months that we will complete the selection process for the same,” CEO Vsevolod Rozanov told reporters here.

Sistema owns 73.7 percent stake in Sistema Shyam, India’s Shyam group owns 23.8 per cent while the rest 2.4 per cent is held by the public.