MTS mobile services in Uttar Pradesh by early-Nov

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh will be witnessing launch of "MTS" mobile servies of Sistema Shyam Teleservices (SSTL) group by Diwali next-month, a top company official said.

"The company offers its services in 12 circles and there will be an addition of two more circles- UP (east and west) by next month," President and CEO SSTL Vsevolod Rozanov told reporters here.

SSTL, which offers mobile services in India under the brand name--MTS--is a joint venture between Russia's Sistema and domestic major, the Shyam Group.

"The state of Uttar Pradesh has a lot of potential with a number of educational establishments and untapped broadband sector. We are confident that it will be among top five revenue generators of the Indian operations," he said.

The company besides offering mobile services (CDMA) will be offering wireless broadband services.

"We will be trying to tap the market of broadband wireless, which has a lot of potential," Rozanov added.

The company's CEO said that the data market would be on its focus, as they expect it to be the next big growth sector rather than voice services, which is already overcrowded.

"Future of mobile in India would very soon be based on data services," he said.

SSTL, which has clocked 35 per cent revenue growth quarter on quarter (Q-o-Q) currently sees 10 per cent of its revenue coming from data services, excluding SMS.

Sistema holds a 74 per cent stake in the venture while Shyam holds 23.5 per cent. The balance 2.5 per cent is publicly-held.

He said that the broadband penetration is at present hovering around one per cent and it would surely rise with the economic growth and people start demanding wireless internet services.

The company currently has about seven million customers from 12 circles.