UPDATE 1-Partner Communications Q2 profit up

(Recasts; adds details, share movement)

July 31 (Reuters) - Israeli mobile phone operator Partner Communications Co (PTNR.TA) (PTNR.O) posted an 8 percent rise in quarterly profit, helped by an increase in service revenue.

For the second quarter, net income was 247.3 million shekels ($73.8 million), or 1.57 shekels per share, compared with 228.1 million shekels, or 1.45 shekels per share, a year ago.

Revenue rose 5 percent to 1.54 billion shekels ($460.7 million).

Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 1.54 shekels a share, before special items, on revenue of 1.60 billion shekels, according to Reuters Estimates.

Partner, Israel's second-largest mobile phone operator, saw a service revenue growth of about 5 percent to 1.38 billion shekels ($410.5 million).

Subscriber base grew 4.5 percent to 2.9 million with the addition of about 33,000 subscribers this quarter.

The company said the increase in revenue was partly offset by a fall in average revenue per user due to competitive pressures and regulatory intervention.

Partner also declared a dividend of 1.26 shekels a share, or 38 cents a share, for the quarter.

Shares of the company were trading up 2 percent at 7611 shekels at 1038 GMT in Tel Aviv. (Reporting by A.Ananthalakshmi in Bangalore; Editing by Amitha Rajan) ((ananthalakshmi.as@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: ananthalakshmi.as.reuters.com@reuters.net))