List of mobile network operators

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 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)
  •  Thailand (TrueMove H)
  •  United Kingdom (CMLink)
List
  • GSM, GPRS, EDGE, TD-SCDMA,
  • TD-HSDPA,
  • TD-LTE, FD-LTE (Hong Kong only)
945.50 [1]
(June 2021)
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 (Airtel Sri Lanka)
  •  Tanzania (Airtel Tanzania)
  •  Uganda (Airtel Uganda)
  •  Zambia (Airtel)
List
480 [2]
(September-2021)
Bharti Enterprises (64%)
SingTel (36%)
3 India Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited
List
  •  India (Jio)
List
424.84 [3][4]
(September 2021)

Jio Platforms

4 China China Telecom Corp., Ltd
List
  • China China
  •  Macau
List
362.49[5]
(June 2021)
China Telecommunications Corporation (State Owned) (70.89%)
5 United Kingdom Vodafone Group plc
List
  • Albania Albania (Vodafone)
  • Australia Australia (Vodafone)
  • Brazil Brazil (Vodafone)
  • Czech Republic Czech Republic (Vodafone)
  • Egypt Egypt (Vodafone)
  • Fiji Fiji (Vodafone)
  • Germany Germany (Vodafone)
  • Ghana Ghana (Vodafone)
  • Greece Greece (Vodafone)
  • Hungary Hungary (Vodafone)
  • Iceland Iceland (Vodafone)
  • Republic of Ireland Ireland (Vodafone)
  • Italy Italy (Vodafone)
  • Iraq Iraq (Vodafone)
  • Jordan Jordan (Vodafone)
  • Netherlands Netherlands (Vodafone)
  • Cyprus Cyprus (CYTA)
  • New Zealand New Zealand (Vodafone)
  • Portugal Portugal (Vodafone)
  • Qatar Qatar (Vodafone)
  • Romania Romania (Vodafone)
  • South Africa South Africa (Vodacom)
  • Spain Spain (Vodafone)
  • Turkey Turkey (Vodafone)
  • Ukraine Ukraine (Vodafone)
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom (Vodafone)
List
[Note 1]
315[6][Note 2]
(FY 2021)
6 China China Unicom Limited
List
  • China China Unicom
  • Hong Kong CUniq HK
  • United States CUniq US
  • United Kingdom CUniq UK
List
310.45[7]
(June 2021)
China Unicom Limited (40.92%)
China Netcom Group (29.49%)
Telefonica (0.6%)
7 Mexico América Móvil, S.A.B. de C.V
List
List
297.73[8]
(June 2021)
Helu Slim (36.50%)
Carlos Slim (6.84%)
Public stock (56.66%)
8 South Africa MTN Group Limited
List
  • Afghanistan Afghanistan
  • Benin Benin
  • Botswana Botswana
  • Cameroon Cameroon
  • Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo
  • Eswatini Eswatini (30%)
  • Ghana Ghana
  • Guinea Guinea
  • Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau
  • Iran Iran (49%)
  • Ivory Coast Ivory Coast
  • Liberia Liberia
  • Nigeria Nigeria
  • Rwanda Rwanda
  • South Africa South Africa
  • South Sudan South Sudan
  • Sudan Sudan
  • Syria Syria
  • Uganda Uganda
  • Yemen Yemen
  • Zambia Zambia
List
  • GSM,
280[9]
(Dec 2020)
Public stock (60.02%)
Government Employees Pension Fund (25.33%)
M1 (10.05%)
9 Spain Telefónica S.A.
List
  • Argentina Argentina (Movistar)
  • Brazil Brazil (Vivo)
  • Chile Chile (Movistar)
  • Colombia Colombia (Movistar)
  • Ecuador Ecuador (Movistar)
  • Germany Germany (O2)
  • Mexico Mexico (Movistar)
  • Peru Peru (Movistar)
  • Spain Spain (Movistar)
  • Sudan Sudan (Sudan Unicom)
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom (O2)
  • Uruguay Uruguay (Movistar)
  • Venezuela Venezuela (Movistar)
List
  • D-AMPS, cdmaOne, CDMA2000,
  • GSM, GPRS, EDGE,
  • UMTS, HSDPA,
  • LTE
274.91[10]
(June 2021)
10 India Vodafone Idea Limited
List
  •  India (Vi)
List
269.99[3]
(September 2021)
Vodafone Group (44.4%)
Aditya Birla Group (26.0%)
Axiata Group Berhad (8.17%)
Private equity (20.73%)
11 France Orange S.A.
List
  • Belgium Belgium (Orange)
  • Botswana Botswana (Orange)
  • Cameroon Cameroon (Orange)
  • Central African Republic Central African Republic (Orange)
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo (Orange)
  • Dominican Republic Dominican Republic (Orange)
  • Egypt Egypt (Orange)
  • Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea (Orange)
  • France France (Orange)
  • Guinea Guinea (Sonatel)
  • Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau (Sonatel)
  • Iraq Iraq (Korek) (20%)[11]
  • Ivory Coast Ivory Coast
  • Jordan Jordan (Orange)
  • Kenya Kenya (Orange)
  • Luxembourg Luxembourg
  • Madagascar Madagascar (Orange)
  • Mali Mali (Orange)
  • Moldova Moldova (Orange)
  • Morocco Morocco (Orange)
  • Niger Niger (Orange)
  • Poland Poland (Orange)
  • Romania Romania (Orange)
  • Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia (Orange)
  • Senegal Senegal (Orange) (50%)
  • Spain Spain (Orange)
  • Tunisia Tunisia (Orange)
List
  • GSM, GPRS, EDGE,
  • UMTS, HSDPA, HSPA+,
  • LTE
259[12]
(2020)
Public stock (77%)
Government of France (23%)
12 Germany Deutsche Telekom AG
List
List
  • GSM, GPRS, EDGE,
  • UMTS, HSPA, HSPA+, DC-HSPA+,
  • LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR
246.6[13]
(June 2021)
Free float (68.1%)
Federal Republic of Germany (31.9%)
13 Netherlands VEON Ltd.
List
  • Algeria Algeria (Djezzy)
  • Bangladesh Bangladesh (Banglalink)
  • Georgia (country) Georgia (Beeline)
  • Kazakhstan Kazakhstan (Beeline)
  • Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan (Beeline)
  • Pakistan Pakistan (Jazz)
  • Russia Russia (Beeline)
  • Ukraine Ukraine (Kyivstar)
  • Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (Beeline)
List
  • GSM, GPRS, EDGE,
  • UMTS, HSDPA, HSPA+,
  • LTE
212.7[14]
(Q1 2021)
Letterone Investment Holdings S.A. (47.9%)
Public stock (43.8%)
Stichting Administratiekantoor Mobile Telecommunications Investor (8.3%)
14 United States AT&T Inc.
List
List
191.64[15]
(June 2021)
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%) [16]
15 Norway Telenor ASA
List
  • Bangladesh Bangladesh (Grameenphone)
  • Denmark Denmark (Telenor)
  • Finland Finland (DNA PLC)
  • Malaysia Malaysia (DiGi)
  • Norway Norway (Telenor)
  • Pakistan Pakistan (Telenor)
  • Sweden Sweden (Telenor)
  • Thailand Thailand (dtac)
List
  • GSM, GPRS, EDGE,
  • UMTS, HSDPA,
  • LTE
170.28[17]
(Q2 2021)
Government of Norway (53.97%)
Public stock (41.74%)
The Government Pension Fund of Norway (4.79%)
16 Indonesia PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel)
List
  • Indonesia Indonesia (Telkomsel)
    East Timor East Timor (Telkomcel)
List
  • GSM, GPRS, EDGE,
  • UMTS, HSDPA, HSPA+,
  • LTE
164.69[18]
(Q1 2021)
PT Telkom Indonesia (65%)
Singtel (35%)
17 Malaysia Axiata Group Berhad
List
List
157[19][20]
(2020)
Public stock (54.91%)
Government of Malaysia (45.09%)
18 United Arab Emirates Emirates Telecommunication
Group Company PJSC
(Etisalat)
List
  • Afghanistan Afghanistan
  • Benin Benin
  • Burkina Faso Burkina Faso
  • Central African Republic Central African Republic
  • Chad Chad
  • Egypt Egypt
  • Gabon Gabon
  • Ivory Coast Côte d'Ivoire
  • Mali Mali
  • Mauritania Mauritania
  • Morocco Morocco
  • Niger Niger
  • Pakistan Pakistan (26%)
  • Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia (27%)
  • Togo Togo
  • United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates
List
  • GSM, GPRS, EDGE,
  • UMTS, HSDPA,
  • LTE
154[21]
(2020)
Emirates Investment Authority (60.03%)
Public stock (39.97%)
19 United States Verizon Wireless
List
  • United States United States
List
  • CDMA, EV-DO,
  • LTE
120.85[22]
(April 2021)
Verizon Communications
20 Qatar Ooredoo QSC
List
  • Algeria Algeria (Ooredoo) (46.4%)
  • Indonesia Indonesia (Indosat Ooredoo)
  • Iraq Iraq (Asia Cell) (30%)
  • Kuwait Kuwait
  • Maldives Maldives
  • Myanmar Myanmar (Ooredoo)
  • Oman Oman (Ooredoo)
  • Qatar Qatar
  • Tunisia Tunisia
List
  • CDMA, EV-DO,
  • GSM, GPRS, EDGE,
  • UMTS, HSDPA, HSPA+,
  • LTE
117.6[23]
(April 2021)
Government of Qatar
21 India Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
List
List
  • GSM, GPRS, EDGE,
  • UMTS, HSPA, HSDPA, TD-HSDPA, HSPA+
  • , LTE, TD-LTE, FD-LTE, LTE Advanced
116.72 [3]
(September 2021)[Note 4][24]
Government of India
22 Vietnam Viettel Group
List
  • Burundi Burundi (Lumitel)
  • Cambodia Cambodia (Metfone)
  • Cameroon Cameroon (Nexttel)
  • East Timor East Timor (Telemor)
  • Haiti Haiti (Natcom)
  • Laos Laos (Unitel)
  • Mozambique Mozambique (Movitel)
  • Myanmar Myanmar (Mytel)
  • Peru Peru (Bitel)
  • Tanzania Tanzania (Halotel)
  • Vietnam Vietnam
List
  • CDMA,
  • GSM, GPRS, EDGE,
  • UMTS, HSDPA, HSPA+, LTE
110.0[27]
(December 2018)
Government of Vietnam
23 Hong Kong CKH Group Telecom
List
  • Hong Kong Hong Kong
  • Macau Macau
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom (Three)
  • Austria Austria
  • Sweden Sweden
  • Denmark Denmark
  • Indonesia Indonesia
  • Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (Hutch)
  • Italy Italy (Wind Tre)
  • Vietnam Vietnam (Vietnamobile)
  • Republic of Ireland Ireland (3)
List
  • CDMA,
  • GSM, GPRS, EDGE,
  • UMTS,
  • LTE
98.49[28](2020) CK Hutchison Holdings
24 Iran MCI Hamrahe Aval
List
  • Iran 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[29]
(April 2020)
TCI (94.09%)
Sukuk (5.91%)
25 Russia Mobile TeleSystems (MTS)
List
  • Russia Russia (MTS)
  • Armenia Armenia (VivaCell-MTS)
  • Belarus Belarus (MTS)
List
  • CDMA,
  • GSM, GPRS, EDGE,
  • UMTS,
  • LTE
84.9[30]
(Q1 2021)
Sistema (50.8%)
26 Japan NTT Docomo Inc.
List
  • Japan Japan
List
82.63[31]
(May 2021)
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone
27 Philippines Globe Telecom Inc.
List
  • Philippines Philippines
List
79.8[32]
(May 2021)
Asiacom (50.81%)
Singtel (20.08%)

Public stock (15.65%)
Ayala Corporation (13.19%)
Directors, Officers,Executive Stock Option Plan (0.26%)

28 Philippines PLDT Inc.
List
  • Philippines Philippines (Smart, TNT, Sun Cellular)
List
  • GSM, GPRS, EDGE,
  • UMTS, HSDPA, HSPA, HSPA+,
  • LTE,
  • WiMAX
71.8[33]
(May 2021)
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%)

29 Russia MegaFon
List
  • Russia Russia
  • Tajikistan Tajikistan
List
70.5[34]
(Q1 2021)
AF Telecom Holding LLC (56.32%)
USM Telecom LLC (43.68%)
30 Japan KDDI
List
  • Japan Japan (Au)
List
60.56[35]
(June 2021)
KDDI Corporation

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 United States Iridium Proprietary TDMA 0.824 (June 2016)[36]
2 United States Globalstar Proprietary CDMA 0.638 (March 2015)[37]
3 United Arab Emirates Thuraya Proprietary FDMA/GSM 0.260 (December 2007)[38] Etisalat (28%)
4 United Kingdom Inmarsat Proprietary GSM 0.254 (September 2009)[39]
5 Indonesia ACeS Dual-mode Satellite/GSM 0.020 (December 2007)

By region[]

  • List of mobile network operators of the Americas
  • List of mobile network operators of the Asia Pacific region
  • List of mobile network operators of Europe
  • List of mobile network operators of the Middle East and Africa

See also[]

Footnotes[]

  1. ^ Vodafone Australia does not offer GSM, GPRS and EDGE.
  2. ^ "3 FY21 additional information" (xlsx). investors.vodafone.com. Vodafone Group Plc.
  3. ^ BSNL and MTNL merger approved by Government of India.
  4. ^ After adding subscribers of MTNL to BSNL, because MTNL will merge with BSNL.

References[]

  1. ^ "Monthly Customer Data". China Mobile. 7 July 2020.
  2. ^ "Quarterly IR Pack Bharti Airtel Consolidated" (PDF). bharti airtel. 31 December 2020. p. 3. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  3. ^ a b c "TRAI subscription data" (PDF). September 2021.
  4. ^ "Financial and Operational Performance of Jio Platforms Limited Q1 2020–2021 Report". Reliance industries. 30 July 2020.
  5. ^ "China Telecom Corporation". China Telecom. 7 July 2020.
  6. ^ "Quarterly Results" (PDF). Vodafone Group plc. 3 February 2021. p. 7.
  7. ^ "Operation Data". China Unicom. 7 September 2020.
  8. ^ "3Q 2020 Reports" (PDF). América Móvil. 20 October 2020.
  9. ^ "Q3 Report September 2020" (PDF). MTN Group. 6 September 2020.
  10. ^ "January–December FY 2020 Report". December 2020. p. 8.
  11. ^ "Non-controlling equity interest: Iraq". Orange. Archived from the original on 25 February 2020.
  12. ^ "Press Report 3Q 2020" (PDF). 29 October 2020. p. 15.
  13. ^ "3Q 2020 Report". 12 November 2020. p. 2.
  14. ^ "Report 3Q 2020" (PDF). Veon. 29 October 2020.
  15. ^ "AT&T 3Q Financial Report" (PDF). investors.att.com. p. 7. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  16. ^ "AT&T INC. Ownership summary| NASDAQ". www.nasdaq.com. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  17. ^ "3Q 2020 Telenor ASA Group Report" (PDF). 21 October 2020. p. 1.
  18. ^ "Telkom Indonesia Q1 2021 financial results" (PDF). June 2021. p. 12.
  19. ^ "Axiata 4th Quarter 2019 Financials" (PDF).
  20. ^ "Axiata 4Q19 Data Financials".
  21. ^ "Etisalat 2Q Report 2020" (PDF). p. 4. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  22. ^ "Verizon Q1 2021". www.verizon.com. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  23. ^ "Q1 2021 Results" (PDF). Ooredoo. April 2021. p. 12.
  24. ^ a b "MTNL to be act as BSNL subsidiary Till Merger Complete". The Hindu. 29 June 2019.
  25. ^ "Government approves Revival package for BSNL, MTNL". Economic Times. 23 October 2019.
  26. ^ "BSNL, MTNL to be merged, along with special package". India Today. 23 October 2019.
  27. ^ "Viettel to become a digital service provider this year". Viettel Group. 14 December 2019.
  28. ^ "Customer base, 2019" (PDF). CK Hutchison Holdings Limited. 19 March 2020.
  29. ^ 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.
  30. ^ "Q1 2021 Results" (PDF). MTS. 18 May 2021. p. 2.
  31. ^ "NTT FY2020" (PDF). 12 May 2021.
  32. ^ "Report 1Q 2021" (PDF). 7 May 2021. p. 4.
  33. ^ "Financial highlights 1Q 2021" (PDF). 6 May 2021.
  34. ^ "KPI Q1 2020". MegaFon. 28 May 2020.
  35. ^ "KDDI FY2021". 12 September 2021.
  36. ^ "Iridium Q2 2016 Results" (PDF). 30 June 2016.
  37. ^ "Globestar Announces Q1 2015 Results". Globalstar.com. 31 March 2015.
  38. ^ "Thuraya Launches SMS Info Service with CNN" (Press release). Thuraya. 27 November 2007. Archived from the original on 3 January 2010.
  39. ^ "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[]

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