NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan telecom operator Airtel, a unit of India's Bharti Airtel, slightly increased its mobile subscription market share in the third quarter, while rival Safaricom's fell, an official report showed on Tuesday.

Overall mobile subscriptions in the East African country grew by 2.3 percent to 46.6 million subscribers in the period, driven by some subscribers acquiring extra SIM cards, the report by the Communications Authority of Kenyan (CAK) said.

Airtel's subscriber market share gained nearly a percentage point to 22.3 percent in the third quarter, which the report said was due to its cheaper tariff plans, while Safaricom's fell by slightly over a percentage point to 64.2 percent.

Kenya has a thriving voice and data telecommunications sectors, powered by an economy that also boasts the region's most advanced manufacturing sector.

(Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Alexander Smith)

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