By Rogerio Jelmayer SAO PAULO--Brazil's mobile-phone subscriptions increased again in July, however at a slower pace than in the first half of the year, as the regulator suspended temporarily the sales of some local mobile companies in the period, according to figures released over the weekend by telecommunications regulator Anatel. Total mobile phone users in Brazil rose to 256.41 million in July, up 0.11% from June, Anatel said. A total of just 279,720 new subscribers were signed up in July, down from 1.2 million new subscriptions seen in June. In mid July, Anatel banned three major operators from selling services in some Brazilian states where service quality was deemed inadequate. The suspension, which was lifted on Aug. 10, affected TIM Participacoes SA (TSU, TIMP3.BR), a unit of Telecom Italia SpA (TI, TIA, TIT.MI); Oi SA (OIBR, OIBR4.BR); and Claro, a unit of Mexico's America Movil SA (AMX, AMOV, AMX.MX). The only company that didn't suffer with the regulator's suspension was Telefonica Brasil SA (VIV, VIVT4.BR), also known as Vivo, part of Spain's Telefonica SA (TEF), and it saw an increase of its market share in the period. Vivo saw its market share increased to 29.71% in July up from 29.6% in June. TIM Participacoes SA was second with a 26.78% share, down from 26.9%. Claro ranked third with a 24.6% share in July, the same level it saw in June, while Oi SA remained in fourth place with 18.6% of market share, also the same level as in June. Write to Rogerio Jelmayer at rogerio.jelmayer@dowjones.com Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
