Russia's MTS loses 325,000 pay TV subscribers in 2013

MOSCOW — Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (“MTS” – NYSE: MBT), the leading telecommunications provider in Russia and the CIS, today announces its unaudited US GAAP financial results for the three months and full year ended December 31, 2013.

MTS finished 2013 with 2.613 million pay TV subscribers, down 65 thousand in the fourth quarter and down 325 thousand year-on-year. The decline in the company’s pay TV subscriber base reflects the migration of subscribers from analogue to digital, which it says has resulted in the defection of some of its “social package” subscribers.

Total Pay TV Subscribers (000s):

        2012                        2013
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   Q3     Q4     Q1     Q2     Q3     Q4
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2,952  2,938  2,885  2,806  2,678  2,613