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 |
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
|
620.0[2] (March 2024) |
Bharti Enterprises (66.57%) Singtel (32.15%) Google (1.28%) | |
3 | India | Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited | List
|
472.42[3] (April 2024) |
Jio Platforms | |
4 | China | China Telecom Corp., Ltd | 413.5[4] (April 2024) |
China Telecommunications Corporation (State Owned) (70.89%) | ||
5 | China | China Unicom Limited | 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
|
323.0[6] (December 2023) |
||
7 | Mexico | América Móvil, S.A.B. de C.V | List
|
311.6[7] (March 2024) |
Helu Slim (36.50%) Carlos Slim (6.84%) Public stock (56.66%) | |
8 | Spain | Telefónica S.A. | 298.7[8] (March 2024) |
|||
9 | South Africa | MTN Group Limited | List
|
287.6[9] (March 2024) |
Public stock (60.02%) Government Employees Pension Fund (25.33%) M1 (10.05%) | |
10 | Germany | Deutsche Telekom AG | List
|
255.8[10] (March 2024) |
Free float (68.1%) Federal Republic of Germany (31.9%) | |
11 | France | Orange S.A. | List
|
242.6[12] (March 2024) |
Public stock (77%) Government of France (23%) | |
12 | India | Vodafone Idea Ltd | 219.08[13] (April 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
|
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
|
162.5[16] (December 2023) |
Public stock (54.91%) Government of Malaysia (45.09%) | |
15 | Indonesia | PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel) | List
|
159.3[17] (December 2023) |
Telkom Indonesia (65%) Singtel (35%) | |
16 | UAE | Emirates Telecommunication Group Company PJSC (Etisalat) |
159[18] (2021) |
Emirates Investment Authority (60.03%) Public stock (39.97%) | ||
17 | Netherlands | VEON Ltd. | List
|
157 (2022) |
Letterone Investment Holdings S.A. (47.9%) Public stock (43.8%) Stichting Administratiekantoor Mobile Telecommunications Investor (8.3%) | |
18 | South Africa | Vodacom | List
|
List
|
154.9[19] (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%) |
19 | USA | Verizon Communications | 143.3[20] (January 2023) |
Verizon Communications | ||
20 | Qatar | Ooredoo QSC | List
|
121[21] (2021) |
Government of Qatar | |
21 | HKG | CK Hutchison Holdings – Telecom Division | List
|
120[22](2022) | CK Hutchison Holdings | |
22 | Vietnam | Viettel Group | 110.0[23] (December 2018) |
Government of Vietnam | ||
23 | Norway | Telenor ASA | List
|
93.0[24][25] (March 2024) |
Government of Norway (53.97%) Public stock (41.74%) The Government Pension Fund of Norway (4.79%) | |
24 | Iran | MTN Irancell | 92.46[26] (April 2020) |
TCI (94.09%) Sukuk (5.91%) | ||
25 | India | BSNL Mobile | 88.94[30] (April 2024)[Note 2][27] |
Government of India | ||
26 | Russia | Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) | 83.85[31] (Q3 2021) |
Sistema (50.8%) | ||
27 | Japan | NTT Docomo Inc. | 82.63[32] (May 2021) |
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone | ||
28 | Russia | MegaFon | 70.5[33] (Q1 2021) |
AF Telecom Holding LLC (56.32%) USM Telecom LLC (43.68%) | ||
29 | Philippines | Globe Telecom Inc. | 53.73[34] (Aug 2023) |
Asiacom (50.81%) Singtel (20.08%) Public stock (15.65%) | ||
30 | Philippines | PLDT Inc. | List
|
52.5[35] (Aug 2023) |
Public (41.55%) NTT Docomo (14.5%) Philippine Telecommunications Investment Corp. (12.05%) Metro Pacific Resources, Inc. (9.98%) NTT Communications Corp (5.85%) First Pacific (3.54%) |
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
- List of mobile network operators of the Americas
- List of mobile network operators in Asia and Oceania
- List of mobile network operators in Europe
- List of mobile network operators in the Middle East and Africa
See also
- Comparison of mobile phone standards
- List of sovereign states by number of broadband Internet subscriptions
- List of countries by number of Internet users
- List of countries by number of telephone lines in use
- List of countries by smartphone penetration
- List of multiple-system operators
- List of telephone operating companies
Footnotes
References
- ^ "Monthly Customer Data". 30 April 2024.
- ^ "Quarterly Highlights Report" (PDF). 31 March 2024.
- ^ "Trai Press Release 23/2024" (PDF). 31 March 2024.
- ^ "China Telecom Monthly Reports". China Telecom Corporation. 30 April 2024.
- ^ "Annual Report 2023" (PDF). 31 December 2023.
- ^ "Annual Report 2023" (PDF). 31 December 2023.
- ^ "1Q 2024 Reports" (PDF). 31 March 2024.
- ^ "1Q Results 2024". 31 March 2024.
- ^ "Q1 Results 2024" (PDF). 31 March 2024.
- ^ "Interim Group Report 1Q 2024" (PDF). 31 March 2024.
- ^ "Non-controlling equity interest: Iraq". Orange. Archived from the original on 25 February 2020.
- ^ "Q1 Press Release 2024". 31 March 2024.
- ^ "Trai Press Release 23/2024" (PDF). 3 May 2024.
- ^ "AT&T Reports Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year Results". about.att.com. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
- ^ "AT&T INC. Ownership summary| NASDAQ". nasdaq.com. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
- ^ "Axiata Integrated 2019 Annual Report 2023" (PDF).
- ^ "Annual Report 2023" (PDF). December 2023.
- ^ "Etisalat 2Q Report 2020" (PDF). p. 4. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
- ^ "Group Results 24".
- ^ "Strong wireless service revenue growth highlights Verizon's 4Q and 2022 results". verizon.com. 24 January 2023. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
- ^ "Q1 2021 Results" (PDF). Ooredoo. April 2021. p. 12.
- ^ "Customer base, 2019" (PDF). CK Hutchison Holdings Limited. 19 March 2020.
- ^ "Viettel to become a digital service provider this year". Viettel Group. 14 December 2019.
- ^ "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.
- ^ a b "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.
- ^ "TRAI subscription data". April 2022.
- ^ "Q1 2021 Results" (PDF). MTS. 18 May 2021. p. 2.
- ^ "NTT FY2020" (PDF). 12 May 2021.
- ^ "KPI Q1 2020". MegaFon. 28 May 2020.
- ^ "Report 1Q 2021" (PDF). 7 May 2021. p. 4.
- ^ "Financial highlights 1Q 2021" (PDF). 6 May 2021.
- ^ "Iridium Q2 2016 Results" (PDF). 30 June 2016.
- ^ "Globestar Announces Q1 2015 Results". Globalstar.com. 31 March 2015.
- ^ "Thuraya Launches SMS Info Service with CNN" (Press release). Thuraya. 27 November 2007. Archived from the original on 3 January 2010.
- ^ "INMARSAT HOLDINGS LIMITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL RESULTS For the three and nine months ended 30 September 2009 (unaudited)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 November 2012.
External links
For a more comprehensive list of mobile phone operators, see Mobile country codes.