MOSCOW (Dow Jones)--The number of Russian mobile phone subscriptions rose 2.0 million in April to 192.82 million, with OAO Vimpel Communications (VIP) slightly increasing its market share at the expense of OAO Mobile TeleSystems (MBT), consultants Advanced Communications & Media said Monday. 

Penetration, or the percentage of all Russians using a mobile phone, rose to 132.8% in April from 131.4% in March.

AC&M's penetration rate represents the number of valid SIM cards per 100 people and reflects that many people have more than one phone, especially in the bigger cities.

AC&M gave the following breakdown of the largest operators' subscriber details for Russia. The figures don't include subscribers of MTS, VimpelCom and MegaFon elsewhere in the former Soviet Union.

 
 
 Operator         April       March       On Month 
 MTS              65.68 Mln   65.11 Mln   +572,000 
 VimpelCom        49.98 Mln   49.35 Mln   +627,000 
 MegaFon          44.05 Mln   43.52 Mln   +524,000 
 Tele2            10.78 Mln   10.65 Mln   +125,000 
 
 
 

Company Web site: www.acm-consulting.com

-By Will Bland, Dow Jones Newswires; +7 495 937 8445; william.bland@dowjones.com