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 | 974.04[1] (September 2022) | Government of the People's Republic of China (74.25%) Public stock (25.75%) | ||
| 2 | India | Bharti Airtel Limited | List
| 496.91[2] (June 2022) | Bharti Enterprises (66.57%) Singtel (32.15%) Google (1.28%) | |
| 3 | India | Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited | List
| 486.31 (May 2023) | Jio Platforms Meta | |
| 4 | China | China Telecom Corp., Ltd | List
| List | 390.48[3] (October 2022) | China Telecommunications Corporation (State Owned) (70.89%) |
| 5 | China | China Unicom Limited | List
| 320.00[4] (June 2022) | China Unicom Limited (40.92%) China Netcom Group (29.49%) Telefónica (0.6%) | |
| 6 | Mexico | América Móvil, S.A.B. de C.V | List
| 307.85[5] (September 2022) | Helu Slim (36.50%) Carlos Slim (6.84%) Public stock (56.66%) | |
| 7 | South Africa | MTN Group Limited | List
| List
| 289.11[6] (December 2022) | Public stock (60.02%) Government Employees Pension Fund (25.33%) M1 (10.05%) |
| 8 | United Kingdom | Vodafone Group plc | List
| 286.016[7] (February 2024) | ||
| 9 | Spain | Telefónica S.A. | 277.52[8] (May 2023) | |||
| 10 | France | Orange S.A. | List
| 241.9[10] ( December 2022) | Public stock (77%) Government of France (23%) | |
| 11 | India | Vodafone Idea Ltd | 230.94 (May 2023) | Government of India (32.09%) Vodafone Group Plc (31.27%) Aditya Birla Group (17.49%) Private equity (15.97%) American Tower Corporation (3.18%) | ||
| 12 | USA | AT&T Inc. | List
| 217.4[11] (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%)[12] | |
| 13 | Germany | Deutsche Telekom AG | List
| 212.04[13] (September 2022) | Free float (68.1%) Federal Republic of Germany (31.9%) | |
| 14 | Indonesia | PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel) | List
| 176[14] (2021) | Telkom Indonesia (65%) Singtel (35%) | |
| 15 | Norway | Telenor ASA | List
| 172[15] (2021) | Government of Norway (53.97%) Public stock (41.74%) The Government Pension Fund of Norway (4.79%) | |
| 16 | Malaysia | Axiata Group Berhad | List
| 163[16][17] (2021) | Public stock (54.91%) Government of Malaysia (45.09%) | |
| 17 | UAE | Emirates Telecommunication Group Company PJSC (Etisalat) | List
| 159[18] (2021) | Emirates Investment Authority (60.03%) Public stock (39.97%) | |
| 18 | Netherlands | VEON Ltd. | List
| 157 (2022) | Letterone Investment Holdings S.A. (47.9%) Public stock (43.8%) Stichting Administratiekantoor Mobile Telecommunications Investor (8.3%) | |
| 19 | USA | Verizon Communications | 143.3[19] (January 2023) | Verizon Communications | ||
| 20 | South Africa | Vodacom | List
| List
| 132.78[20] (September 2022) | 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%) |
| 21 | Qatar | Ooredoo QSC | List
| 121[21] (2021) | Government of Qatar | |
| 22 | Vietnam | Viettel Group | 110.0[22] (December 2018) | Government of Vietnam | ||
| 23 | India | BSNL Mobile | 106.03[26] (March 2023)[Note 2][23] | Government of India | ||
| 24 | HKG | CK Hutchison Holdings – Telecom Division | List
| 120[27](2022) | CK Hutchison Holdings | |
| 25 | Iran | MTN Irancell | List
| 92.46[28] (April 2020) | TCI (94.09%) Sukuk (5.91%) | |
| 26 | Russia | Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) | List
| 83.85[29] (Q3 2021) | Sistema (50.8%) | |
| 27 | Japan | NTT Docomo Inc. | List
| 82.63[30] (May 2021) | Nippon Telegraph and Telephone | |
| 28 | Philippines | Globe Telecom Inc. | List
| 53.73[31] (Aug 2023) | Asiacom (50.81%) Singtel (20.08%) Public stock (15.65%) | |
| 29 | Philippines | PLDT Inc. | List
| 52.5[32] (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%) | |
| 30 | Russia | MegaFon | List
| 70.5[33] (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)[34] | |
| 2 | Globalstar | Proprietary CDMA | 0.638 (March 2015)[35] | |
| 3 | Thuraya | Proprietary FDMA/GSM | 0.260 (December 2007)[36] | Etisalat (28%) |
| 4 | Inmarsat | Proprietary GSM | 0.254 (September 2009)[37] | |
| 5 | ACeS | Dual-mode Satellite/GSM | 0.020 (December 2007) |
By region
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
External links
For a more comprehensive list of mobile phone operators, see Mobile country codes.
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