For a more comprehensive list of mobile phone operators, see Mobile country codes.
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
|
562.0[2] (March 2024) |
Bharti Enterprises (66.57%) Singtel (32.15%) Google (1.28%) | |
3 | India | Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited | List
|
469.7[3] (March 2024) |
Jio Platforms Meta | |
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 | 219.8[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
|
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] (Decembef 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 | USA | Verizon Communications | 143.3[19] (January 2023) |
Verizon Communications | ||
19 | South Africa | Vodacom | List
|
List
|
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
|
121[21] (2021) |
Government of Qatar | |
21 | Vietnam | Viettel Group | 110.0[22] (December 2018) |
Government of Vietnam | ||
22 | India | BSNL Mobile | 106.03[26] (March 2023)[Note 2][23] |
Government of India | ||
23 | HKG | CK Hutchison Holdings – Telecom Division | List
|
120[27](2022) | CK Hutchison Holdings | |
24 | Norway | Telenor ASA | List
|
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 | 92.46[30] (April 2020) |
TCI (94.09%) Sukuk (5.91%) | ||
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 | Philippines | Globe Telecom Inc. | 53.73[33] (Aug 2023) |
Asiacom (50.81%) Singtel (20.08%) Public stock (15.65%) | ||
29 | Philippines | PLDT Inc. | List
|
52.5[34] (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 | 70.5[35] (Q1 2021) |
AF Telecom Holding LLC (56.32%) USM Telecom LLC (43.68%) |
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) |