List of mobile network operators

Last updated May 23, 2024

For a more comprehensive list of mobile phone operators, see Mobile country codes.

Terrestrial

This is a list of the world's thirty largest terrestrial mobile phone network operators measured by number of subscriptions.

Rank	Country	Company	Main markets	Technology	Total subscriptions (in millions)	Ownership (100% ownership unless stated otherwise)
1	China	China Mobile Communications Corporation	List China (China Mobile) Hong Kong (CMHK) Pakistan (Zong)	List GSM, GPRS, EDGE, TD-SCDMA, TD-HSDPA, TD-LTE, FD-LTE (Hong Kong only), 4G+, 5G	997.4^[1] (April 2024)	Government of the People's Republic of China (74.25%) Public stock (25.75%)
2	India	Bharti Airtel Limited	List Chad (Airtel) Bangladesh (Robi) (28.18%) DR Congo (Airtel) Gabon (Airtel) Guernsey (Airtel-Vodafone) India (Airtel) Jersey (Airtel-Vodafone) Kenya (Airtel Kenya) Madagascar (Airtel) Malawi (Airtel) Niger (Airtel) Nigeria (Airtel) Republic of the Congo (Airtel) Rwanda (Airtel) Seychelles (Airtel) Sri Lanka (Dialog Axiata) (10.335%) Tanzania (Airtel Tanzania) Uganda (Airtel Uganda) Zambia (Airtel)	List GSM , GPRS, EDGE, HSPA, UMTS, HSPA+, LTE, TD-LTE, FD-LTE, LTE Advanced, 5G	562.0^[2] (March 2024)	Bharti Enterprises (66.57%) Singtel (32.15%) Google (1.28%)
3	India	Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited	List India (Jio)	List LTE, TD-LTE, FD-LTE, LTE Advanced, 5G	469.7^[3] (March 2024)	Jio Platforms Meta Google
4	China	China Telecom Corp., Ltd	List China Macau	List CDMA, EV-DO TD-LTE, LTE, 4G+, 5G	413.5^[4] (April 2024)	China Telecommunications Corporation (State Owned) (70.89%)
5	China	China Unicom Limited	List China Unicom CUniq HK CUniq US CUniq UK	List GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, , TD-LTE, LTE, 4G+, 5G	333.0^[5] (December 2023)	China Unicom Limited (40.92%) China Netcom Group (29.49%) Telefónica (0.6%)
6	United Kingdom	Vodafone Group plc	List Albania (Vodafone) Australia (Vodafone) Czech Republic (Vodafone) Egypt (Vodafone) Germany (Vodafone) Greece (Vodafone) India (Vi) Ireland (Vodafone) Italy (Vodafone) Netherlands (Vodafone) Northern Cyprus (Vodafone) Portugal (Vodafone) Romania (Vodafone) South Africa (Vodacom) Spain (Vodafone) Tanzania (Vodacom) Turkey (Vodafone) United Kingdom (Vodafone)	List GSM, GPRS, EDGE, HSPA, HSPA+, LTE, LTE Advanced, 5G	323.0^[6] (December 2023)
7	Mexico	América Móvil, S.A.B. de C.V	List Argentina (Claro) Austria (Telekom Austria) Belarus (A1) Brazil (Claro) Bulgaria (A1) Chile (Claro) Colombia (Claro) Costa Rica (Claro) Croatia (A1) Dominican Republic (Claro) Ecuador (Claro) El Salvador (Claro) Guatemala (Claro) Honduras (Claro) Liechtenstein (A1) Mexico (Telcel) Nicaragua (Claro) North Macedonia (A1) Panama (Claro) Paraguay (Claro) Peru (Claro) Puerto Rico (Claro) Serbia (A1) Slovenia (A1 Slovenija) Uruguay (Claro)	List D-AMPS, cdmaOne, CDMA2000 1x, EV-DO, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSPA+, LTE	311.6^[7] (March 2024)	Helu Slim (36.50%) Carlos Slim (6.84%) Public stock (56.66%)
8	Spain	Telefónica S.A.	List Argentina (Movistar) Brazil (Vivo) Chile (Movistar) Colombia (Movistar) Ecuador (Movistar) Germany (O₂) Mexico (Movistar) Peru (Movistar) Spain (Movistar) Sudan (Sudan Unicom) United Kingdom (O₂) Uruguay (Movistar) Venezuela (Movistar)	List D-AMPS, cdmaOne, CDMA2000, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, LTE	298.7^[8] (March 2024)
9	South Africa	MTN Group Limited	List Afghanistan Benin Botswana Cameroon Republic of the Congo Eswatini (30%) Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Iran (49%) Ivory Coast Liberia Nigeria Rwanda South Africa South Sudan Sudan Syria Uganda Yemen Zambia	List GSM,	287.6^[9] (March 2024)	Public stock (60.02%) Government Employees Pension Fund (25.33%) M1 (10.05%)
10	Germany	Deutsche Telekom AG	List Austria (Magenta Telekom) Bosnia and Herzegovina (HT Eronet) Croatia (Hrvatski Telekom) Czech Republic (T-Mobile CZ) Germany (Deutsche Telekom) Greece (Cosmote) Hungary (Magyar Telekom) Montenegro (Crnogorski Telekom) North Macedonia (Makedonski Telekom) Poland (T-Mobile PL) Puerto Rico (T-Mobile US) Romania (Telekom Romania) Slovakia (Slovak Telekom) United States (T-Mobile US) United States Virgin Islands (T-Mobile US)	List GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSPA, HSPA+, DC-HSPA+, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, 5G NR	255.8^[10] (March 2024)	Free float (68.1%) Federal Republic of Germany (31.9%)
11	France	Orange S.A.	List Belgium (Orange) Botswana (Orange) Cameroon (Orange) Central African Republic (Orange) Democratic Republic of the Congo (Orange) Dominican Republic (Orange) Egypt (Orange) Equatorial Guinea (Orange) France (Orange) Guinea (Sonatel) Guinea-Bissau (Sonatel) Iraq (Korek) (20%)^[11] Ivory Coast Jordan (Orange) Kenya (Orange) Luxembourg Madagascar (Orange) Mali (Orange) Moldova (Orange) Morocco (Orange) Niger (Orange) Poland (Orange) Romania (Orange) Saudi Arabia (Orange) Senegal (Orange) (50%) Slovakia (Orange) Spain (Orange) Tunisia (Orange)	List GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSPA+, LTE	242.6^[12] (March 2024)	Public stock (77%) Government of France (23%)
12	India	Vodafone Idea Ltd	List India (Vi)	List GSM , GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSPA, HSPA+, LTE, TD-LTE, FD-LTE, LTE Advanced, 5G	219.8^[13] (March 2024)	Government of India (32.09%) Vodafone Group Plc (31.27%) Aditya Birla Group (17.49%) Private equity (15.97%) American Tower Corporation (3.18%)
13	USA	AT&T Inc.	List United States (AT&T Mobility LLC) Mexico (AT&T Mexico)	List HSDPA, HSPA+, LTE, LTE-Advanced, LTE-A Pro, 5G NR	217.4^[14] (January 2023)	Institutional Shares (59.28%) Vanguard Group Inc (14.12%) Blackrock Inc (11.49%) State Street Corp (7.53%) Newport Trust Co (5.07%) Geode Captital Management, LLC (2.52%)^[15]
14	Malaysia	Axiata Group Berhad	List Bangladesh (Robi Axiata Ltd)(61.82%) Cambodia (Smart) Indonesia (XL) Malaysia (CelcomDigi) Sri Lanka (Dialog)	List GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSPA+, LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR	162.5^[16] (Decembef 2023)	Public stock (54.91%) Government of Malaysia (45.09%)
15	Indonesia	PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel)	List Indonesia (Telkomsel Halo, Telkomsel PraBayar, by.U) East Timor (Telkomcel)	List GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSPA+, LTE, 5G	159.3^[17] (December 2023)	Telkom Indonesia (65%) Singtel (35%)
16	UAE	Emirates Telecommunication Group Company PJSC (Etisalat)	List Afghanistan Benin Burkina Faso Central African Republic Chad Egypt Gabon Côte d'Ivoire Mali Mauritania Morocco Niger Pakistan (26%) Saudi Arabia (27%) Togo United Arab Emirates	List GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, LTE	159^[18] (2021)	Emirates Investment Authority (60.03%) Public stock (39.97%)
17	Netherlands	VEON Ltd.	List Bangladesh (Banglalink) Kazakhstan (Beeline) Kyrgyzstan (Beeline) Pakistan (Jazz) Ukraine (Kyivstar) Uzbekistan (Beeline)	List GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSPA+, LTE	157 (2022)	Letterone Investment Holdings S.A. (47.9%) Public stock (43.8%) Stichting Administratiekantoor Mobile Telecommunications Investor (8.3%)
18	USA	Verizon Communications	List United States (Verizon, Visible, TracFone, Net10, Straight Talk, SafeLink, Simple Mobile) (TracFone, Net10, Straight Talk, SafeLink, Simple Mobile) (TracFone, Net10, Straight Talk, SafeLink, Simple Mobile)	List HSDPA, HSPA+, LTE, LTE-Advanced, LTE-A Pro, 5G NR	143.3^[19] (January 2023)	Verizon Communications
19	South Africa	Vodacom	List South Africa Lesotho Mozambique DRC Tanzania Kenya (Safaricom) (34.94%) Ethiopia (Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia)	List GSM,	154.9^[20] (May 2024)	Vodafone Group Plc (65.1%) Institutional Investors (15.76%) Government of South Africa (13.54%) YeboYethu (6.23%) Retail positions (2.96%) Wheatfield Investments(0.84%) Others(0.17%)
20	Qatar	Ooredoo QSC	List Algeria (Ooredoo) (46.4%) Indonesia (Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison) Iraq (Asia Cell) (30%) Kuwait Maldives Myanmar (Ooredoo) Oman (Ooredoo) Qatar Tunisia	List CDMA, EV-DO, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSPA+, LTE	121^[21] (2021)	Government of Qatar
21	Vietnam	Viettel Group	List Burundi (Lumitel) Cambodia (Metfone) Cameroon (Nexttel) East Timor (Telemor) Haiti (Natcom) Laos (Unitel) Mozambique (Movitel) Myanmar (Mytel) Peru (Bitel) Tanzania (Halotel) Vietnam	List CDMA, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSPA+, LTE	110.0^[22] (December 2018)	Government of Vietnam
22	India	BSNL Mobile	List India (BSNL Mobile & MTNL , Mahanagar Telephone Mauritius Limited ^{[Note 1]}^[23]^[24]^[25]	List GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSPA, HSDPA, TD-HSDPA, HSPA+ , LTE, TD-LTE, FD-LTE, LTE Advanced	106.03^[26] (March 2023)^{[Note 2]}^[23]	Government of India
23	HKG	CK Hutchison Holdings – Telecom Division	List Hong Kong (3) Macau United Kingdom (Three) Austria Sweden Denmark Indonesia (Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison) Sri Lanka (Hutch) Italy (Wind Tre) Vietnam (Vietnamobile) Ireland (Three)	List CDMA, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, LTE	120^[27](2022)	CK Hutchison Holdings
24	Norway	Telenor ASA	List Bangladesh (Grameenphone) Denmark (Telenor) Finland (DNA PLC) Malaysia (CelcomDigi (33.1%)) Norway (Telenor) Sweden (Telenor) Thailand (True (26.32%))	List GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR	93.0^[28]^[29] (March 2024)	Government of Norway (53.97%) Public stock (41.74%) The Government Pension Fund of Norway (4.79%)
25	Iran	MTN Irancell	List Iran	List GSM 900/1800 MHz (GPRS, EDGE) 2100/900 MHz (HSPA, DC-HSPA+) 1800/2600/2100/900 MHz (LTE, LTE-A), (VoLTE, VoWiFi)	92.46^[30] (April 2020)	TCI (94.09%) Sukuk (5.91%)
26	Russia	Mobile TeleSystems (MTS)	List Russia (MTS) Armenia (VivaCell-MTS) Belarus (MTS)	List CDMA, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, LTE	83.85^[31] (Q3 2021)	Sistema (50.8%)
27	Japan	NTT Docomo Inc.	List Japan	List UMTS, HSPA, HSPA+, LTE, TD-LTE, FD-LTE, LTE Advanced	82.63^[32] (May 2021)	Nippon Telegraph and Telephone
28	Philippines	Globe Telecom Inc.	List Philippines (Globe, TM, GOMO)	List CDMA, EV-DO, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSPA+, LTE, LTE Advanced, 5G VoLTE, VoWIFI, eSIM	53.73^[33] (Aug 2023)	Asiacom (50.81%) Singtel (20.08%) Public stock (15.65%) Ayala Corporation (13.19%) Directors, Officers,Executive Stock Option Plan (0.26%)
29	Philippines	PLDT Inc.	List Philippines (Smart, TNT, Sun Cellular)	List GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSPA, HSPA+, 3GPP, LTE, LTE Advanced, WiMAX, 5G VoLTE, VoWIFI, ViLTE, eSIM	52.5^[34] (Aug 2023)	Public (41.55%) NTT Docomo (14.5%) Philippine Telecommunications Investment Corp. (12.05%) JG Summit Holdings (11.27%) Metro Pacific Resources, Inc. (9.98%) NTT Communications Corp (5.85%) First Pacific (3.54%)
30	Russia	MegaFon	List Russia Tajikistan	List GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA LTE, LTE Advanced	70.5^[35] (Q1 2021)	AF Telecom Holding LLC (56.32%) USM Telecom LLC (43.68%)

Satellite based

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)^[36]
2	Globalstar	Proprietary CDMA	0.638 (March 2015)^[37]
3	Thuraya	Proprietary FDMA/GSM	0.260 (December 2007)^[38]	Etisalat (28%)
4	Inmarsat	Proprietary GSM	0.254 (September 2009)^[39]
5	ACeS	Dual-mode Satellite/GSM	0.020 (December 2007)

By region

Footnotes

↑ BSNL and MTNL merger approved by Government of India.
↑ After adding subscribers of MTNL to BSNL, because MTNL will merge with BSNL.

Related Research Articles

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Celcom Axiata Berhad is the oldest mobile telecommunications provider in Malaysia. Celcom is a member of the Axiata group of companies. Celcom was merged with Digi to form CelcomDigi on 1 December 2022.

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A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which it provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobile network operator to obtain bulk access to network services at wholesale rates, then sets retail prices independently. An MVNO may use its own customer service, billing support systems, marketing, and sales personnel, or it could employ the services of a mobile virtual network enabler (MVNE).

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited(abbreviated as BSNL) is a state-owned telecommunications company, based in India, owned by the Government of India. It operates as a central public sector undertaking with its headquarters in New Delhi, India. BSNL falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Telecommunications, which is part of the Ministry of Communications, Government of India. The company was established on 1 October 2000 by the Government of India. BSNL provides mobile voice and internet services through its nationwide telecommunications network across India. It is the largest government-owned-wireless telecommunications service provider in India. In 2022, BSNL reported a loss of Rs 57,671 crore since inception. In the financial year 2022-23 it incurred a loss of Rs 6,662 crore.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited is a 'Navratna' Category Public sector undertakings in India which is in turn under the ownership of the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, Government of India. Headquartered in New Delhi, India. MTNL Provides services in the metro cities of Mumbai and New Delhi in India and in the island nation of Mauritius in Africa. It had a monopoly in Mumbai and New Delhi until 1992, when the telecom sector was opened to other service providers. "एमटीएनएल है, तो सही है" {"MTNL hai to sahi hai"} & "Transparency makes us different" is its motto. The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited currently holds 100% of its stock. . As of June 2021, it has 3.28 million subscribers. It is also a wholly owned subsidiary of a central public sector unit.

In India, mobile numbers on GSM, WCDMA, LTE and NR networks start with either 9, 8, 7 or 6. Each telecom circle is allowed to have multiple private operators; earlier it was two private + BSNL/MTNL, subsequently it changed to three private + BSNL/MTNL in GSM; now each telecom circle has all four operators including Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone idea ltd and BSNL/MTNL.

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Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Currently, Airtel provides 5G, 4G and LTE Advanced services throughout India. Currently offered services include fixed-line broadband, and voice services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel had also rolled out its Voice over LTE (VoLTE) technology across all Indian telecom circles. It is the second largest mobile network operator in India and the second largest mobile network operator in the world. Airtel was named India's 2nd most valuable brand in the first ever Brandz ranking by Millward Brown and WPP plc.

BSNL Mobile is an Indian state-owned telecommunication company of the Government of India. BSNL Mobile operates under the BSNL brand and provides wireless cellular services to B2B, B2C, & B2G segments in India. BSNL Mobile has a pan-India presence with presence in all the 22 telecom circles in India.

Telephone numbers in India are administered under the National Numbering Plan of 2003 by the Department of Telecommunications of the Government of India. The numbering plan was last updated in 2015. The country code "91" was assigned to India by the International Telecommunication Union in the 1960s.

Internet in India began in 1986 and was initially available only to the educational and research community. General public access to the internet in India began on 15 August 1995. By 2023, India had more than 900 million Internet users. It is reported that in 2022 an average mobile Internet consumption in India was 19.5 GB per month and the mobile data usage per month rose from 4.5 exabytes in 2018 to 14.4 exabytes in 2022.

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References

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↑ "Trai Press Release 23/2024" (PDF). 31 March 2024.
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↑ "Trai Press Release 23/2024" (PDF). 31 March 2024.
↑ "AT&T Reports Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year Results". about.att.com. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
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↑ "Axiata Integrated 2019 Annual Report 2023" (PDF).
↑ "Annual Report 2023" (PDF). December 2023.
↑ "Etisalat 2Q Report 2020" (PDF). p. 4. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
↑ "Strong wireless service revenue growth highlights Verizon's 4Q and 2022 results". verizon.com. 24 January 2023. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
↑ "Group Results 24".
↑ "Q1 2021 Results" (PDF). Ooredoo. April 2021. p. 12.
↑ "Viettel to become a digital service provider this year". Viettel Group. 14 December 2019.
1 2 "MTNL to be act as BSNL subsidiary Till Merger Complete". The Hindu . 29 June 2019.
↑ "Government approves Revival package for BSNL, MTNL". The Economic Times . 23 October 2019.
↑ "BSNL, MTNL to be merged, along with special package". India Today. 23 October 2019.
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↑ "Telenor Group's Results 1Q 2024" (PDF). 31 March 2024.
↑ "PTCL acquires 100% shares of Telenor Pakistan for Rs108 billion". 15 December 2023.
↑ سهم بازار اپراتورهای همراه در سه ماهه نخست سال جاری [Mobile operators' market share in the first quarter of this year]. rond.ir (in Persian). Retrieved 17 June 2021.
↑ "Q1 2021 Results" (PDF). MTS. 18 May 2021. p. 2.
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↑ "Thuraya Launches SMS Info Service with CNN" (Press release). Thuraya. 27 November 2007. Archived from the original on 3 January 2010.
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External links

List of all mobile network operators in the World divided by country