MTS’ market share in Uzbekistan was at 54% at the end of the third quarter of 2007, Russia’s Mobile TeleSystems OJSC said on 20 November.

The company said approximately 347,000 new customers were added in Uzbekistan in the reporting period. Total number of the report made up 2.29 million users, the company said. During the quarter mobile penetration in Uzbekistan increased from 13% to 16%.

MTS said its third quarter revenues increased by 77% year-on-year to US$66 million and the third quarter OIBDA up 85% year-on-year to US$41 million. The company said OIBDA margin was 62.5%. The third quarter net income grew by 143% year-on-year to US$25 million.

Operating income before depreciation and amortization (OIBDA) represents operating income before depreciation and amortization. OIBDA margin is defined as OIBDA as a percentage of net revenues.

The MOU increased sequentially in the third quarter from 549 minutes to 565 minutes. Average monthly minutes of usage per subscriber (MOU) is calculated by dividing the total number of minutes of usage during a given period by the average number of our subscribers during the period and dividing by the number of months in that period.

ARPU decreased sequentially from US$10.4 to US$10.3 in the third quarter. Average monthly service revenue per subscriber (ARPU) is calculated by dividing service revenues for a given period, including interconnect and guest roaming fees, by the average number of our subscribers during that period and dividing by the number of months in that period.

SAC increased sequentially from US$3.7 to US$4.4 in the third quarter. Subscriber acquisition cost (SAC) is total sales and marketing expenses and handset subsidies for a given period. Sales and marketing expenses include advertising expenses and commissions to dealers. SAC per gross additional subscriber is calculated by dividing SAC during a given period by the total number of gross subscribers added by us during the period.

MTS’ expenditure on property, plant and equipment in the third quarter totaled US$4 million in Uzbekistan.