MTS sole bidder for DTH on ABS-2 over Russia

Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications (ROSKOMNADZOR) has said that it has received only one application to run a direct-to-home (DTH) television service on the ABS-2 satellite launched in February this year.

The single bidder was Sistema, Russia’s largest publicly listed holding company, applying through its affiliate CTV – a holder of the required broadcasting licence. Assuming that there are no issues with the application, the company will be declared the winner at the end of July. According to RBC Daily, the service will be operated by Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (MTS), another company controlled by Sistema.

ABS-2, located at at 75°E, has a footprint covering almost the entirety of Russian territory.