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
 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
List
 496.91[2]
(June 2022) 		Bharti Enterprises (66.57%)
Singtel (32.15%)
Google (1.28%)
3 India Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited
List
List
 436.31
(May 2023) 		Jio Platforms
4 China China Telecom Corp., Ltd
List
  • China China
  •  Macau
List
 390.48[3]
(October 2022) 		China Telecommunications Corporation (State Owned) (70.89%)
5 China China Unicom Limited
List
  • China China Unicom
  • Hong Kong CUniq HK
  • United States CUniq US
  • United Kingdom CUniq UK
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
  • Argentina Argentina (Claro)
  • Austria Austria (Telekom Austria)
  • Belarus Belarus (A1)
  • Brazil Brazil (Claro)
  • Bulgaria Bulgaria (A1)
  • Chile Chile (Claro)
  • Colombia Colombia (Claro)
  • Costa Rica Costa Rica (Claro)
  • Croatia Croatia (A1)
  • Dominican Republic Dominican Republic (Claro)
  • Ecuador Ecuador (Claro)
  • El Salvador El Salvador (Claro)
  • Guatemala Guatemala (Claro)
  • Honduras Honduras (Claro)
  • Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (A1)
  • Mexico Mexico (Telcel)
  • Nicaragua Nicaragua (Claro)
  • North Macedonia North Macedonia (A1)
  • Panama Panama (Claro)
  • Paraguay Paraguay (Claro)
  • Peru Peru (Claro)
  • Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (Claro)
  • Serbia Serbia (A1)
  • Slovenia Slovenia (A1 Slovenija)
  • Uruguay Uruguay (Claro)
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
  • 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
 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
List
 286.016[7]
(February 2024)
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
 277.52[8]
(May 2023)
10 France Orange S.A.
List
List
 241.9[10]
( December 2022) 		Public stock (77%)
Government of France (23%)
11 India Vodafone Idea Ltd
List
List
 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
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
List
 212.04[13]
(September 2022) 		Free float (68.1%)
Federal Republic of Germany (31.9%)
14 Indonesia PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel)
List
  • Indonesia Indonesia (Telkomsel Halo, Telkomsel PraBayar, by.U)
    East Timor East Timor (Telkomcel)
List
 176[14]
(2021) 		Telkom Indonesia (65%)
Singtel (35%)
15 Norway Telenor ASA
List
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
List
 163[16][17]
(2021) 		Public stock (54.91%)
Government of Malaysia (45.09%)
17 UAE 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
 159[18]
(2021) 		Emirates Investment Authority (60.03%)
Public stock (39.97%)
18 Netherlands VEON Ltd.
List
  • Bangladesh Bangladesh (Banglalink)
  • Kazakhstan Kazakhstan (Beeline)
  • Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan (Beeline)
  • Pakistan Pakistan (Jazz)
  • Ukraine Ukraine (Kyivstar)
  • Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (Beeline)
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
List
List
 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
List
 121[21]
(2021) 		Government of Qatar
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
 110.0[22]
(December 2018) 		Government of Vietnam
23 India BSNL Mobile
List
List
 106.03[26]
(March 2023)[Note 2][23] 		Government of India
24 HKG CK Hutchison Holdings – Telecom Division
List
List
 100.29[27](2021) CK Hutchison Holdings
25 Iran MTN Irancell
List
  • Iran Iran
List
 92.46[28]
(April 2020) 		TCI (94.09%)
Sukuk (5.91%)
26 Russia Mobile TeleSystems (MTS)
List
  • Russia Russia (MTS)
  • Armenia Armenia (VivaCell-MTS)
  • Belarus Belarus (MTS)
List
 83.85[29]
(Q3 2021) 		Sistema (50.8%)
27 Japan NTT Docomo Inc.
List
  • Japan Japan
List
 82.63[30]
(May 2021) 		Nippon Telegraph and Telephone
28 Philippines Globe Telecom Inc.
List
  • Philippines Philippines (Globe, TM, GOMO)
List
 53.73[31]
(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
List
 52.5[32]
(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 Russia
  • Tajikistan Tajikistan
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

Footnotes

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

References

  1. ^ "Monthly Customer Data". China Mobile. 30 September 2020.
  2. ^ "Quarterly Highlights Report Bharti Airtel" (PDF). 30 June 2022.
  3. ^ "China Telecom Corporation". China Telecom. 30 September 2022.
  4. ^ "2022 Interim Report" (PDF). China Unicom. 30 June 2022.
  5. ^ "3Q 2022 Reports" (PDF). América Móvil. 30 September 2022.
  6. ^ "Full Year Results 22". MTN Group. 30 December 2022.
  7. ^ "Full Year Results". Vodafone Group plc. 5 February 2024.
  8. ^ "January–March 2023 Results". 11 May 2023.
  9. ^ "Non-controlling equity interest: Iraq". Orange. Archived from the original on 25 February 2020.
  10. ^ "H1 2022 Presentation" (PDF). 28 July 2022.
  11. ^ "AT&T Reports Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year Results". about.att.com. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
  12. ^ "AT&T INC. Ownership summary| NASDAQ". nasdaq.com. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  13. ^ "1Q 2022 Report". 13 May 2022. p. 2.
  14. ^ "Telkom Indonesia Q1 2021 financial results" (PDF). June 2021. p. 12.
  15. ^ "3Q 2020 Telenor ASA Group Report" (PDF). 21 October 2020. p. 1.
  16. ^ "Axiata 4th Quarter 2019 Financials" (PDF).
  17. ^ "Axiata 4Q19 Data Financials".
  18. ^ "Etisalat 2Q Report 2020" (PDF). p. 4. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  19. ^ "Strong wireless service revenue growth highlights Verizon's 4Q and 2022 results". verizon.com. 24 January 2023. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
  20. ^ hamsite, digital marketing. "آژانس دیجیتال مارکتینگ". digital marketing agency HAMSITE.
  21. ^ "Q1 2021 Results" (PDF). Ooredoo. April 2021. p. 12.
  22. ^ "Viettel to become a digital service provider this year". Viettel Group. 14 December 2019.
  23. ^ a b "MTNL to be act as BSNL subsidiary Till Merger Complete". The Hindu. 29 June 2019.
  24. ^ "Government approves Revival package for BSNL, MTNL". The Economic Times. 23 October 2019.
  25. ^ "BSNL, MTNL to be merged, along with special package". India Today. 23 October 2019.
  26. ^ "TRAI subscription data". April 2022.
  27. ^ "Customer base, 2019" (PDF). CK Hutchison Holdings Limited. 19 March 2020.
  28. ^ 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.
  29. ^ "Q1 2021 Results" (PDF). MTS. 18 May 2021. p. 2.
  30. ^ "NTT FY2020" (PDF). 12 May 2021.
  31. ^ "Report 1Q 2021" (PDF). 7 May 2021. p. 4.
  32. ^ "Financial highlights 1Q 2021" (PDF). 6 May 2021.
  33. ^ "KPI Q1 2020". MegaFon. 28 May 2020.
  34. ^ "Iridium Q2 2016 Results" (PDF). 30 June 2016.
  35. ^ "Globestar Announces Q1 2015 Results". Globalstar.com. 31 March 2015.
  36. ^ "Thuraya Launches SMS Info Service with CNN" (Press release). Thuraya. 27 November 2007. Archived from the original on 3 January 2010.
  37. ^ "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.

Telecommunications
Mobile phones
Category