The number of Ukrainian mobile phone subscribers rose by a negligible 6,000 in January to 55.80 million, consultants Advanced Communications & Media said Tuesday.

The country's biggest operators, Kyivstar, controlled by Norway's Telenor ASA (TEL.OS), lost subscribers, giving up some of its market share to the country's second and third-largest operators OAO Mobile TeleSystems (MBT), and Turkcell-controlled (TKC) Astelit.

AC&M gave the following breakdown of the largest operators' subscriber details for Ukraine.

Operator     January      December 
Kyivstar    23.50 mln    23.53 mln 
UMC         18.15 mln    18.12 mln 
Astelit     11.25 mln    11.23 mln 
VimpelCom    1.95 mln     2.03 mln 
   Consultancy Web site: www.acm-consulting.com

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