Mobile TeleSystems (MBT) announced results for the second quarter with reported earnings of $1.49 per ADR beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 85 cents. Eastern Europe’s largest cellular operator reported revenue of $2 billion, down 23.3% year over year, hurt by the macroeconomic volatility across its markets. Net income dipped 14.6% from the year-ago quarter to $563 million on lower revenue, higher interest expenses and increased handset costs.

On a geographic basis, revenue rose 7% year over year in Russia, 4% in Uzbekistan, 35% in Turkmenistan and 3% in Armenia, while sales declined 8% in Ukraine.

Mobile TeleSystems added approximately 2.8 million customers in the quarter (up sequentially), primarily driven by a 2.3 million net subscriber growth in Russia. This was marginally offset by 155,000 subscriber losses in Ukraine. At the end of the second quarter, the company served approximately 99.5 million subscribers (67.4 million in Russia), up

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