Sistema Shyam Teleservices Limited (SSTL) on Monday announced the expansion of its national footprint by beginning its mobile telephony services under the MTS brand in Uttar Pradesh East and West circles. The CDMA operator has earmarked an investment of about Rs.150 crore for both the circles.
“With this, MTS would now be able to address the telecom needs of over 80 per cent of India's population and about 92 per cent of the data market potential.
This truly represents an exciting opportunity for MTS,” said Sistema Shyam Chief Financial Officer Sergey Savchenko.
SSTL, a joint venture between Russia's Sistema and India Shyam Group, has already invested over $2.2 billion in India.
“Our expansion will further add to the company's customer base, which now stands at over 80-lakh and over four-lakh MBlaze mobile broadband customers in 96 cities,” he added.
The company now marks its presence in 15 telecom circles.
The Russian Government recently picked up about 17 per cent stake in SSTL for $600 million.
According to Arvind Kumar, Chief Operating Officer, Uttar Pradesh East and West circles, “The launch of MTS services will provide mobile customers in Uttar Pradesh East and Uttar Pradesh West circles access to our nationally successful half-a-paisa per second tariff plan or 1 paisa per second besides 25 per cent extra value on core talk time with every recharge. This is bound to result in huge savings for the customers.”
