MTS provides TV business update

Russia’s MTS ended the third quarter with 2,741,000 TV subscribers in its home market, down from 2,894,000 in the corresponding period last year.
Although its fixed telephony subscriber total also fell, down from 3,677,000 to 3,540,000, its fixed internet take-up rose from 2,359,000 to 2,537,000.
Meanwhile, ARPU in its fixed B2C segment increased from R261 (€3.75) in Q3 2014 to R280 in the three months to September 30 this year.
MTS says that the fall in pay-TV customers reflects a migration from analogue to digital, while the increase in APRU highlights a number of factors, including the rising share of double and triple play customers and continued migration to its digital TV platform.
MGTS, MTS’s Moscow GPON operation, had 850,000 broadband and pay-TV subscribers as of the end of Q3, or almost double the 450,000 posted a year earlier.
MGTS currently offers internet access at up to 500 Mbps, over 200 TV channels, 35 of which are in HD, as well as VOD services over IPTV.