The number of mobile phones in circulation in Brazil rose 1.5% in July compared with the month before to reach 161.9 million as the main players continued the aggressive promotion of new lines, according to figures released Wednesday by telecommunications regulator Anatel.

Net additions totaled 2.3 million in July, up slightly from 2.1 million in June.

There was little variation in the market share of the key players last month.

Vivo Participacoes SA (VIV) maintained market leadership with a 29.35% share of subscriptions. Vivo is jointly owned by Spain's Telefonica SA (TEF) and Portugal Telecom SGPS SA (PT).

Claro, the local unit of Mexico's America Movil SA (AMX), was second with a 25.35% share.

TIM Participacoes (TCU) was in third place with 23.75%. TIM is the local unit of Telecom Italia SpA (TI).

Fourth-placed mobile-phone operator Oi (TNE) registered a share of 21.15%

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