10 april 2017
"... MTS is hardly unique among telcos in trying to carve out a new identity amid concern about the prospects for the mainstream network business. Even in emerging markets, soaring adoption of smartphones has left operators with little familiar territory into which they can expand. Competition from rivals old and new is squeezing sales. Economies are foundering in some countries. And regulation is an ever-present headache.
In the case of MTS, growing pressure is evident in recent financial results. Thanks to rising usage of voice and data services, overall company revenues were up 2.1% last year, to 435.7 billion Russian rubles ($7.73 billion). Yet they shrank 0.5% in the final quarter of the year, and operating income (before depreciation and amortization) in 2016 fell by 4.4%, to RUB169.3 billion ($3 billion). So uncertain is the economic outlook that MTS cannot say whether sales and profits will rise or fall this year.
Source: MTS.
But few telcos, and arguably no other emerging-markets players, are more serious than MTS about digital and business transformation. During an investor presentation at London's Science Museum last month, the subject generated more debate among analysts and MTS executives than headline results. "We need to become a software company whose network is just a part of the entire business," said Andrei Dubovskov, the CEO of MTS. "This is the way we will harvest revenues and profitability."
Sources:
https://themoscowtimes.com/news/russian-cell-operator-mts-to-store-user-data-in-pilot-anti-terror-scheme-57947
http://www.lightreading.com/business-employment/business-transformation/russias-mts-to-sacrifice-connectivity-in-software-rebirth/d/d-id/731906?
http://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/ericsson-mts-build-5g-prototype-network/58391045
"... MTS is hardly unique among telcos in trying to carve out a new identity amid concern about the prospects for the mainstream network business. Even in emerging markets, soaring adoption of smartphones has left operators with little familiar territory into which they can expand. Competition from rivals old and new is squeezing sales. Economies are foundering in some countries. And regulation is an ever-present headache.
In the case of MTS, growing pressure is evident in recent financial results. Thanks to rising usage of voice and data services, overall company revenues were up 2.1% last year, to 435.7 billion Russian rubles ($7.73 billion). Yet they shrank 0.5% in the final quarter of the year, and operating income (before depreciation and amortization) in 2016 fell by 4.4%, to RUB169.3 billion ($3 billion). So uncertain is the economic outlook that MTS cannot say whether sales and profits will rise or fall this year.
Source: MTS.
But few telcos, and arguably no other emerging-markets players, are more serious than MTS about digital and business transformation. During an investor presentation at London's Science Museum last month, the subject generated more debate among analysts and MTS executives than headline results. "We need to become a software company whose network is just a part of the entire business," said Andrei Dubovskov, the CEO of MTS. "This is the way we will harvest revenues and profitability."
Sources:
https://themoscowtimes.com/news/russian-cell-operator-mts-to-store-user-data-in-pilot-anti-terror-scheme-57947
http://www.lightreading.com/business-employment/business-transformation/russias-mts-to-sacrifice-connectivity-in-software-rebirth/d/d-id/731906?
http://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/ericsson-mts-build-5g-prototype-network/58391045
