MTS said its capital expenditures (Capex) in the first half of 2020 touched RUB 40.8 billion, with a Capex to sales ratio of 17.2 percent.
MTS made investment in core network infrastructure, with a focus on enhancing network capacity and quality for customers.
MTS added 3,698 base stations across 68 Russian regions, including more than 3,434 new 4G base stations in Q2. As a result, MTS’s LTE network coverage increased to an estimated 84 percent of the Russian population.
MTS is maintaining its Capex target of RUB 90 billion for the year.
Alexey Kornya, president and CEO of MTS, said: “As the world navigates 2020, two things have become crystal clear: connectivity has never been so essential, and digital transformation is accelerating like never before. These trends further reaffirm MTS’s long-term strategy to maintain a leading network while moving forward to capture new opportunities in segments beyond connectivity.”
MTS Group revenue increased 1.3 percent to RUB 117.7 billion driven by contributions from both MTS Bank and core telecom services.
MTS Russia’s revenue grew 0.8 percent to RUB 116.3 billion primarily driven by mobile service revenue, MTS Bank, fixed-line connectivity, and integration services.
MTS Russia’s mobile service revenue rose 1.9 percent to RUB 81.2 billion. The number of active mobile subscribers on the company’s network fell 1.7 percent quarter-on-quarter to 77.2 million.
MTS Russia’s revenue from fixed business increased 5.2 percent to RUB 15.8 billion against the background of the increased importance of broadband connectivity for remote work, study, and entertainment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to MTS’s analysis, its share of the Moscow B2C broadband market share grew to 43.1 percent and its pay-TV market share to 46.2 percent. MTS continued to see additional market penetration of its ultra-fast FTTH GPON connectivity, reaching over 2.1 million subscribers in Moscow across B2C and B2B segments.
MTS said its ecommerce revenue more than doubled to RUB 3.6 billion in the second quarter of 2020. MTS has 22.3 million customers adopting its MyMTS customer care app.