For a more comprehensive list of mobile phone operators, see Mobile country codes.
This is a list of the world's 25 largest terrestrial mobile phone network operators measured by number of subscriptions.
| Rank | Company | Main markets | Technology | Total subscriptions (in millions) | Ownership (100% ownership unless stated otherwise) | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  China Mobile Communications Corporation |  China (China Mobile)  Hong Kong (CMHK)  Pakistan (Zong) | 1003.9 [1] (September 2024) | Government of the People's Republic of China (74.25%) Public stock (25.75%) | |
| 2 |  Bharti Airtel Limited | List 
 | 600 [2] (September 2025) | Bharti Enterprises (66.57%) Singtel (32.15%) Google (1.28%) | |
| 3 |  Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited |  India | List 
 | 506 [3] (September 2025) | Jio Platforms | 
| 4 |  China Telecom Corp., Ltd |  China  Macau | 423.4 [4] (September 2024) | China Telecommunications Corporation (State Owned) (70.89%) | |
| 5 |  China Unicom Limited |  China | 345.0 [5] (September 2024) | China Unicom Limited (40.92%) China Netcom Group (29.49%) Telefónica (0.6%) | |
| 6 |  Vodafone Group plc | List 
 | 310.0 [6] (May 2024) | ||
| 7 |  América Móvil, S.A.B. de C.V | List 
 | 315.8 [7] (September 2024) | Helu Slim (36.50%) Carlos Slim (6.84%) Public stock (56.66%) | |
| 8 |  Orange S.A. | List 
 | 305.3 [8] (December 2024) | Public stock (77%) Government of France (23%) | |
| 9 |  Telefónica S.A. | 270.5 [9] (May 2025) | |||
| 10 |  MTN Group Limited | List 
 | 288.0 [10] (September 2024) | Public stock (60.02%) Government Employees Pension Fund (25.33%) M1 (10.05%) | |
| 11 |  Deutsche Telekom AG | List 
 | 258.8 [11] (September 2024) | Free float (68.1%) Federal Republic of Germany (31.9%) | |
| 12 |  Vodafone Idea Ltd |  India | 203.86 [12] (July 2025) | Government of India (49.8%) Vodafone Group Plc (23.2%) Aditya Birla Group (9.85%) | |
| 13 |  Axiata Group Berhad | List 
 | 162.5 [13] (December 2023) | Public stock (54.91%) Government of Malaysia (45.09%) | |
| 14 |  PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel) |  Indonesia  East Timor | 159.3 [14] (December 2023) | Telkom Indonesia (65%) Singtel (35%) | |
| 15 |  Emirates Telecommunication Group Company PJSC (Etisalat) | List 
 | 159 [15] (2021) | Emirates Investment Authority (60.03%) Public stock (39.97%) | |
| 16 |  VEON Ltd. | List 
 | 153.9 [16] (December 2024) | Letterone Investment Holdings S.A. (45.5%) The Stichting Administratiekantoor Mobile Telecommunications Investor (7.9%) Lingotto Investment Management LLP (7.8%) Shah Capital Management Inc. (6.7%) [17] | |
| 17 |  Ooredoo QSC | 149.4 [18] (Q3 2024) | Government of Qatar | ||
| 18 |  Verizon Communications |  United States  United States Virgin Islands  Puerto Rico | 146 [19] (December 2024) | Verizon Communications | |
| 19 |  AT&T Inc. |  United States (AT&T Mobility LLC)  Mexico (AT&T Mexico) | 139.0 [20] (September 2024) | Institutional Shares (59.28%) Vanguard Group Inc (14.12%) Blackrock Inc (11.49%) [21] | |
| 20 |  Telenor ASA | 138.31 [22] (Q3 2024) | Government of Norway (53.97%) Public stock (41.74%) The Government Pension Fund of Norway (4.79%) | ||
| 21 |  Viettel Group | 110.0 [23] (Q1 2022) | Government of Vietnam | ||
| 22 |  BSNL Mobile |  India | 91.74 [24] | Government of India | |
| 23 |  NTT Docomo Inc. |  Japan | 91.4 [25] (Q3 2025) | Nippon Telegraph and Telephone | |
| 24 |  Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) |  Russia  Belarus | 87.60 [26] (Q3 2024) | Sistema (50.8%) | |
| 25 |  MegaFon |  Russia  Tajikistan | 77.26 [27] (Q2 2024) | AF Telecom Holding LLC (56.32%) USM Telecom LLC (43.68%) | 
This is a list of the world's five largest satellite phone network operators measured by number of subscribers.
| Rank | Operator | Technology | Subscribers (in millions) | Ownership | 
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iridium | Proprietary TDMA | 0.824 (June 2016) [28] | |
| 2 | Globalstar | Proprietary CDMA | 0.638 (March 2015) [29] | |
| 3 | Thuraya | Proprietary FDMA/GSM | 0.260 (December 2007) [30] | Etisalat (28%) | 
| 4 | Inmarsat | Proprietary GSM | 0.254 (September 2009) [31] | |
| 5 | ACeS | Dual-mode Satellite/GSM | 0.020 (December 2007) | 
For a more comprehensive list of mobile phone operators, see Mobile country codes.