Russia’s MTS grows TV base in face of pandemic

Russian service provider MTS has posted solid second-quarter results, with growth in TV numbers contributing to its performance, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

MTS had 3.144 million fixed line TV customers in Russia at the end of first half, up from 3.065 million in Q1 and from 2.948 million a year ago.

The operator counted 4.908 million TV users overall, including 2.05 million users of its interactive TV service and 1.192 million OTT TV customers, up from 1.828 million and 1.002 million respectively in Q1.

The operator had 3.659 million fixed internet customers at the end of the period, up from 3.559 million in Q1.

According to MTS’s analysis, in Q2 2020 the Company’s share of the Moscow B2C broadband market share grew to 43.1% and its pay-TV market share to 46.2%. MTS continued to see additional market penetration of its ultra-fast FTTH GPON connectivity, reaching over 2.1 m subscribers in Moscow across B2C and B2B segments.

MTS as a whole saw revenues rise by 1.3% year-on-year in COVID-19-hit Q2 to RUB117.7 billion (€1.35 billion). Adjusted OIBDA rose 0.3% to RUB51.6 billion, giving it an OIBDA margin of 43.8%, slightly down on the prior year.

CEO Alexey Kornya said that the first half had shown that “connectivity has never been so essential, and digital transformation is accelerating like never before”.

While the company was “facing some challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic”, he noted that it had increased its revenue and highlighted contributions from MTS Bank as well as demand for core connectivity.