MOSCOW--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Rostelecom OJSC (MICEX - RTS: RTKM, RTKMP; OTCQX: ROSYY), Russia’s national telecommunications operator, today announces that its Interactive TV1 subscriber base has increased by over 40% and reached 1 million households since the beginning of the year.
Pavel Zaitsev, Vice President and Commercial Director at Rostelecom, commented: “A new platform solution has allowed us to significantly improve the functionality of our pay TV offering, which has led to substantial growth in our subscriber base. Our product has a bright future and we expect the number of our Interactive TV subscribers to increase to approximately 1.5 million by the end of the year.”
Based on a SmartLabs platform, this interactive subscription service is now available on Rostelecom’s media portal, ZABAVA.ru, as well as through a standard TV set-top box. Subscribers can start watching a film or a TV show on their TVs and continue viewing on their PCs or laptops using the ZABAVA.ru media portal. The Company is currently developing applications for Apple iOS and Android operating systems, which will enable customers to use the interactive subscription service on their tablet devices in the near future.
Based on their personal preferences, Interactive TV users can either choose one of six specially designed thematic TV packages, such as “Popular”, “Sport”, “Education”, “Music”, “Films”, and “Children”, or subscribe to as many packages as they want. The Company offers up to 180 DTV channels and 17 HD channels in the majority of the Russian regions. The basic package price starts from RUB 170 per month, which varies depending on the region and options selected by a customer.
“A user-friendly TV menu, an innovative system that recommends shows and an extensive video rental library have already contributed to a substantial increase in content viewings. This has also had a positive impact on our financial performance. Although we are still developing the product, this is already the most unique Interactive TV service currently available in the Russian TV market.” - noted Andrey Kholodny.
Andrey Kholodny, Director of the Media Products project at Rostelecom, added: “Our subscribers are going to like our carefully designed set-top box. Our video library includes new film releases and it is very easy to find your favourite show or a similar programme, record it or mark it as a favourite. The packages are conveniently designed for users, so they can watch what they like, without wasting time switching channels and searching for their desired show.”
The wide range of additional interactive services offered by Rostelecom’s Interactive TV service is a significant advantage. Users can use the record, pause and rewinding functions, use a Video-On-Demand service, as well as access a video archive. Among the additional services available is a convenient integration with social networks, which enables users to rate a film or a show they watched by simply clicking a button once and then share their opinions with friends.
The Company’s ZABAVA.ru portal has a wide selection of licensed content, including high quality videos, games, software and even karaoke. Rostelecom has multiple licence agreements with world’s largest producers and music studios, among which are Universal Studios, Warner Bros., Disney and others, which will keep the portal’s library up-to-date. Any internet user can subscribe to download books, games and music for only RUB 99 per month, giving them unlimited access to their chosen catalogue. Rostelecom’s subscribers benefit from the added convenience of being able to make purchases made through the interactive subscription service and for media content available at ZABAVA.ru. “Home Internet” and ”Pay TV” tariff plan subscribers will be able to use their login details and pay for their purchases using their single account for Rostelecom services.
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For more information please visit www.rostelecom.ru or contact:
Investor Relations Department
Tel. +7 (499) 995 97 80
ir@rt.ru
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Rostelecom (www.rostelecom.ru) is Russia’s national telecommunications operator and now also includes the regional incumbent telecommunications operators (CentreTelecom, SibirTelecom, Dalsvyaz, Uralsvyazinform, VolgaTelecom, North-West Telecom and Southern Telecommunications Company) and Dagsvyazinform. Rostelecom has the largest domestic backbone network (approximately 500 thousand km) and last mile connections to approximately 43 billion households in Russia. The Company holds licences to provide a wide range of telecommunications services (telephony, data, TV and value-added solutions) to residential, corporate and governmental subscribers and fourth party operators across all regions of the Russian Federation. The Rostelecom brand is one of Russia’s ten most trusted brands (source: Romir market research).
Rostelecom’s ordinary and preferred shares are traded on the MICEX-RTS (RTKM, RTKMP) stock exchange, and its depository receipts are traded over-the-counter in the United States on the OTCQX under the symbol ‘ROSYY’. Rostelecom is majority owned (53.2% of ordinary shares) by the Russian Government and has a free float of less than 40% of the outstanding ordinary shares and over 70% of the outstanding preferred shares. Rostelecom was assigned a ‘BBB-’ and ‘BB+’ international credit ratings by Fitch Ratings and Standard&Poor’s respectively, both with a ‘Stable’ outlook. Rostelecom had 28.5 billion local fixed-line voice subscribers, 12.5 billion mobile voice subscribers, 8.2 billion fixed-line broadband subscribers and 5.9 billion pay-TV subscribers at the end of 2011. The Group generated RUB 296.0 billion of consolidated revenues, RUB 117.7 billion of OIBDA (39.8% of revenues) and RUB 46.1 billion of net income for the twelve months ended December 31, 2011.
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Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws and are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created thereby.
Those forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:
• Management’s assessment of the Company’s future operating and financial results as well as forecasts of the present value of future cash flows and related factors;
• the Company’s anticipated capital expenditures and plans to construct and modernize its network;
• the Company’s expectations as to the growth in demand for its services, plans relating to the expansion of the range of its services and their pricing;
• the Company’s plans with respect to improving its corporate governance practices;
• the Company’s expectations as to its position in the telecommunications market and the development of the market segments within which the Company operates;
• economic outlook and industry trends;
• the Company’s expectations as to the regulation of the Russian telecommunications industry and assessment of impact of regulatory initiatives on the Company’s activity;
• other statements regarding matters that are not historical facts.
Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include:
• risks relating to changes in political, economic and social conditions in Russia as well as changes in global economic conditions;
• risks relating to Russian legislation, regulation and taxation, including laws, regulations, decrees and decisions governing the Russian telecommunications industry, securities industry as well as currency and exchange controls relating to Russian entities and their official interpretation by regulatory bodies;
• risks relating to the Company, including the achievement of the anticipated results, levels of profitability and growth, ability to create and meet demand for the Company’s services including their promotions, and the ability of the Company to remain competitive in a liberalized telecommunications market;
• technological risks associated with the functioning and development of the telecommunications infrastructure, technological innovations as well as the convergence of technologies;
• other risks and uncertainties. For a more detailed discussion of these and other factors, see the Company’s Annual Report and the Company’s other public filings.
Many of these factors are beyond the Company’s ability to control or predict. Given these and other uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of the forward-looking statements contained herein or otherwise. The Company does not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to these forward-looking statements (which are made as of the date hereof) to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required under applicable law
1 As at end of Q1 2012, the total number of Pay TV subscribers amounted to 6.0 million subscribers