KIEV, Aug. 15 - Ukraine's national phone company, UkrTelecom, plans to spend up to $300 million to build a cell phone network within the next three years to expand in the lucrative business, a company official said.

The investment would enable UkrTelecom to operate the network with a between one million and 1.5 million clients, which would still put it far behind market leaders UMC and Kyivstar.