MTS Turnover Up 4.6% In Q3

Russia’s Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) posted a 4.6% year-on-year improvement in total revenue to RUB133.9 billion (USD2.1 billion) in the third quarter of 2019, driven largely by mobile service revenue growth in Russia and Ukraine. Operating profit before depreciation and amortisation (OIBDA) grew by 5.9% y-o-y to RUB62.8 billion in July-September 2019 whilst quarterly net profit swung to RUB18.4 billion from a net loss of RUB37.0 billion in the year-ago period.

MTS’ Russian fixed and mobile operating division reported 2.4% y-o-y growth in Q3 revenues to RUB121.9 billion (91% of the group total), with performance driven by mobile (up 3.0% to RUB83.1 billion) but also by MTS Bank (up 37.7% to RUB7.6 billion), while quarterly Russian OIBDA reached RUB57.3 billion, up 3.2%. Second-largest unit, cellco Vodafone Ukraine, achieved a 29.7% rise in sales to UAH4.3 billion (USD176 million) in 3Q19 on 4G mobile data demand with a corresponding 28.9% jump in OIBDA to UAH2.4 billion.—Tele Geogrraphy