TABLE-Russian cellphone penetration rate 161.3 pct in 2012

MOSCOW, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Russian mobile phone subscriptions
reached 230.5 million by the end of last year, equal to 161.3
percent of the population, slightly up from 229.8 million three
months earlier, data from market research group AC&M showed on
Wednesday.
The total number of valid SIM cards was up 2.9 million from
the end of 2011. The number exceeds 100 percent because many
people own several SIM cards. Russia's population reached 143
million in 2012, according to the Federal Statistics Service.
In Ukraine, the number of SIM cards rose to 57.4 million
from 56.3 million at the end of September, and was equal to
126.1 percent of the population - up from 123.6 percent.
AC&M provided the following data (millions of subscribers,
including those in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan,
Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan):

Dec 31 Sept 30

Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) 100.72 98.86
of which in Russia 71.23 70.73

Vimpelcom* 106.24 104.39
of which in Russia 56.11 56.18

MegaFon 64.61 64.75
of which in Russia 62.57 62.80

Tele2 Russia ** 22.72 22.34

Rostelecom ** 13.56 13.53

Cellular Communications MOTIV** 2.34 2.31

SMARTS Group** 1.92 1.90
* = Vimpelcom's headline subscriber numbers are for Russia and
the CIS block of former Soviet republics only.
** = All subscribers are in Russia. Rostelecom's numbers
include Sky Lynk.

Russian market share breakdown by percentage as of Dec. 31:

MTS MegaFon Vimpelcom Others
Russia 31.0 27.0 24.0 18.0

Moscow 38.0 26.0 35.0 1.0

St Petersburg 28.0 34.0 19.0 19.0

Regions 30.0 27.0 22.0 21.0

NOTE: For the year-ago data, please double-click on