The number of mobile phones in circulation in Brazil rose 0.9% in March to 153.67 million as operators continue to push prepaid chip sales.

According to figures released by telecommunications regulator Anatel Thursday, net additions reached 1.3 million, up sharply from 415,909 in February.

Vivo Participacoes (VIV) maintained leadership of the Brazilian mobile-phone market with a 29.7% share of subscriptions in March. Vivo is jointly owned by Spain's Telefonica SA (TEF) and Portugal Telecom (PT).

Claro, the local unit of Mexico's America Movil SA (AMX), was second with a 25.8% share last month, while TIM Participacoes (TSU) was in third place with 23.5%. TIM is the local unit of Telecom Italia SpA (TI).

Fourth-placed mobile-phone operator Oi (TNE) made up a little ground on the lead three in March, registering a market share of 16.80%.

Oi launched cellphone operations in Sao Paulo, Brazil's richest state, late last year.

-By Alastair Stewart, Dow Jones Newswires; 5511-2847-4520; alastair.stewart@dowjones.com