MTS India

History

Sistema, the largest public diversified corporation in Russia, acquired a 10% stake in Shyam Telelink for a total cash consideration of US$ 11.4 million at the end of September 2007. Shantanu Telecom along with their partner Sistema had applied for UASL licence in 22 telecom circles of India. In August 2008, they got a pan-India start-up spectrum to start their mobile service operations in the country. They provide mobile services based on CDMA technology under the brand name MTS India and gave contracts to ZTE and Huawei for network expansion. MTS launched operations in Uttar Pradesh East and West in October 2010.

On 2 February 2012, the Supreme Court of India cancelled 122 licences of 22 mobile operators, including 21 of MTS' 22 licences, in connection with the 2G spectrum scam. MTS lost all its licences except the one for Rajasthan circle. MTS had approximately 2.32 million subscribers in those 10 circles at the time of the announcement, and 14.88 million subscribers nationally. According to MTS officials, the 10 circles where MTS ceased operations constituted 15.62% of its total subscriber base and less than 15% of the company's overall revenue. In the 2013 spectrum auction, MTS won back licences and spectrum in 8 circles - Delhi NCR, Kolkata, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh (West) and West Bengal.

Acquisition by Reliance Communications

On 14 January 2016, Reliance Communications (RCom) announced that it had acquired SSTL in an all stock deal, in which SSTL received a 10% share in RCom, after paying off its existing debt. RCom would assume the liability for installments that SSTL had to pay the government from purchasing spectrum. The liability amounted ₹392 crore annually for 10 years. As a result of the deal, Reliance acquired nearly 9 million subscribers, as well as SSTL's spectrum in the 850 MHz band. The merger deal was approved by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in February 2016. SEBI cleared the deal by March, and SSTL shareholders approved the deal on 18 March. By mid-August, the deal was approved by tax authorities and the shareholders and creditors of RCom and SSTL. The merger was approved by the Rajasthan High Court on 30 September 2016, and the Bombay High Court on 7 October 2016. The final approval, from the Department of Telecommunications, is expected by the end of March 2017.

Services

MTS launched EVDO Rev A based high-speed mobile broadband service, MBlaze, in November 2009 and has seen tremendous market acceptance with over 5 lakh (As per February 2011 Data) customers in a short span of time. In April 2010, MTS launched MTS TV for MTS MBlaze customers. MTS MBlaze has coverage in 100+ cities as of February 2011. MTS has also announced pan-India roaming for its users in April–May 2010. MTS also provides MBrowse which is CDMA-1x technology based internet service. According to Vsevolod Rozanov, President & CEO, MTS India, With a view to enhance customer experience, MTS has prepared a blue print to take the mobile broadband usage in the country to the next level. In a phased manner, MTS will be launching seamless HSD services across some of the busiest highways in the country. On 5 September, MTS India announced the commercial availability of its EVDO Rev B Phase 2 network. On 23 October 2013 SSTL announced its roll out plan of its 3GPLUS network in nine circles namely Delhi NCR, Kolkata, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh (West) and West Bengal.

Operations

MTS currently operates in 9 circles.