List of telecom companies in India

This is a list of notable wireless, wireline, direct-to-home (DTH) and R&D firms/operators in India.

Wireless operators

As of 31 January 2023, there are 114.3 crore (1.14 billion) wireless subscribers in India (including inactive users) according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).[1]

  Bharti Airtel (32.27%)
  BSNL (9.21%)
  MTNL (0.24%)
  Reliance Jio (37.28%)
  Vodafone Idea (20.99%)

Mobile operators

Over the past decade, the Indian cellular services market has seen rapid consolidation. The launch of Reliance Jio in 2016 changed the market dynamics substantially as the company offered free data and voice services during its first year of operations, prompting a fierce price war in the market. Jio managed to garner over 10 crore (100 million) subscribers in its first 6 months of operations. [2][3][4]

As a result, the number of operators in the Indian cellular market have substantially reduced over the past decade. At its peak, the market had as many as 12 active mobile operators.[2]

In 2018, Bharti Airtel lost its market leadership position for the first time in 15 years as a result of the completion of a merger between then telecom giants Vodafone India and Idea Cellular.[5]

Active operators
List of active mobile operators in the country (as on 31st January 2023)
Operator

(Estd.)

 Brands Subscribers Active Users Technologies Ownership Notes
Bharti Airtel Limited (1995) Airtel (stylised as 'airtel') 36.8 Cr[1]

(368 M)

 36.6 Cr[1]

(366 M)

 5G, 4G, 2G[6][7] Bharti Enterprises (66.57)

Singtel (32.15)

Google (1.28%)

 The 'airtel' brand is operated by Bharti Hexacom Limited in Rajasthan and North-East India. Bharti Airtel owns 70% of Bharti Hexacom, while TCIL (Government of India) owns the remaining 30%.[8]

Subscriber count and active users include Bharti Hexacom.

BSNL (2000) CellOne[9]

BSNL Mobile

 10.5 Cr[1]

(105 M)

 5.4 Cr[1]

(54 M)

 3G, 2G[10] Government of India (100%) BSNL does not directly operate in Delhi and Mumbai.[11]
MTNL (1986) Dolphin[12]

MTNL Delhi[13]

Trump[13]

MTNL Mumbai[14]

 0.276 Cr[1]

(2.76 M)

0.060 Cr

(0.60 M)[1]

 3G, 2G[15] Government of India (100%) MTNL only operates in Delhi and Mumbai.[16] MTNL is in the process of being merged with BSNL. The merger is expected to be completed by 2025.[17] Since January 2021, the operations of MTNL's networks have been outsourced to BSNL.[18]
Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (2016) Jio 42.6 Cr[1]

(425 M)

 39.4 Cr[1]

(394 M)

 5G, 4G[19] Jio Platforms Limited (100%) Not to be confused with Reliance Communications.
Vodafone Idea Limited (2018) Vi (stylised as 'V!') 23.9 Cr[1]

(239 M)

 20.9 Cr[1]

(209 M)

 4G, 2G[20] Government of India (32.09%)
Vodafone Group Plc (31.27%)
Aditya Birla Group (17.49%)
Private Equity (15.97)

American Tower Corporation (3.18%)

 In February 2023, the Government of India converted ₹16,133 crore (~US$ 1.9 billion) debt owed to it by the operator into equity, after the company opted for the option given to it under a 'telecom reforms package'.[21]

Defunct operators

As of 31 December 2023, 16 mobile operators have ceased operations in India. The longest operating defunct operator is Aircel, while the oldest is Modi-Telstra[22] - which was also the first mobile operator in the country.[23] Most recently, Reliance Communications ceased operations citing bankruptcy.[24]

List of notable mobile operators that provided services in the country (as on 31st December 2022)
Operator Started Operations Ceased Operations Fate
Modi-Telstra[22] 1990 2000 Merged into Axiata Spice Communications[25]
Escotel 1996 2004 Merged into Idea Cellular[26]
Hutch Essar 1999 2007 Made by Vodafone Group and Essar Group
Axiata Spice Communications 1992 2008 Merged into Idea Cellular[27]
S Tel 2008 2012 Licence cancelled by the Supreme Court of India
Etisalat 2010[28] 2012 Licence cancelled by the Supreme Court of India[29]
BPL Mobile (Loop Mobile) 1995 2014 Ceased operations after expiration of licence[30]
Virgin Mobile India / T24 Mobile 2009[31] 2015 Merged into Tata Docomo [32]
Videocon Telecom 2010[33] 2016 Shut down following sale of spectrum to Bharti Airtel[34][35]
MTS India 2009 2017 Acquired by Reliance Communications[36]
Idea Cellular 2002 2018 Merged with Vodafone India to form Vi[37][38]
Vodafone India 2011 2018 Merged with Idea Cellular to form Vi[37][38]
Aircel 1999 2018 Bankrupt[39]
Telenor India 2009 2018 Acquired by Bharti Airtel[40]
Tata Docomo 2009 2019 Acquired by Bharti Airtel[41]
Reliance Communications 2004 2019 Bankrupt[24]

Direct-to-home (DTH) operators

There are 4 pay-for-use DTH service providers and one free-to-air service provider (DD Free Dish) in India.[42]

As of 30 September 2022, there are 6.558 crore (65.58 million) active paying DTH subscribers, in addition to the subscribers of state-owned DD Free Dish, in the country according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).[42] DD Free Dish has over 4 crore (40 million) subscribers.[42]

Market share of pay DTH operators in India as of 30 September 2022 according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

  Tata Play (33.03%)
  Airtel digital TV (26.49%)
  Dish TV (21.67%)
  Sun Direct (18.81%)
Operator Market Share Ownership
Tata Play 33.03%[42] Tata Sons (60%)
Walt Disney (30%)
Temasek (10%)[43]
Airtel Digital TV 26.49%[42] Bharti Airtel (100%)

Dish TV

 21.67%[42] Essel Group (55%)
Videocon (45%)
Sun Direct 18.81%[42] Sun Network (80%)
Astro Group (20%)
DD Free Dish Government of India

Notes

  • DD free dish is Free To air Service hence their subscriber data is not shown in TRAI performance report.[44]
  • On 22 March 2018, Dish TV merged with d2h, creating the then largest DTH provider in India.[45]

Multiple-system operators (MSOs)
See also: List_of_cable_television_companies § India

As of 31 December 2021, there are 1753 MSOs (some also have an ISP license).[46]

List of top MSOs by subscribers

Operator Total Active Subscriber Base[46]

(in lakhs)

GTPL Hathway Ltd 79.06
Siti Networks Ltd 74.44
Hathway Digital Ltd 54.8
Den Networks Ltd 46.00
Thamizhaga Cable TV Communication Pvt

Ltd

 38.65
Kerala Communicators Cable Ltd 30.11
Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation

Ltd

 27.47
NXT Digital Ltd (HITS) 22.45
KAL Cables Pvt. Ltd 20.99
Fastway Transmissions Pvt Ltd 20.74
V K Digital Network Pvt. Ltd 19.14
InDigital 12.54
Asianet Digital Network Pvt. Ltd 11.79

Wireline operators

Fixed-line operators

As of 31 January 2023, there are 2.773 crore (27.73 million) wireline subscribers in India according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Market share of fixed-line telecom operators in India as of 31 october 2022 according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).[47]

  Jio (31.08%)
  BSNL (25.55%)
  Airtel (24.89%)
  MTNL (8.58%)
  Tata Teleservices (5.63%)
  Vi (2.57%)
  Quadrant (1.17%)
  RCom (0.53%)
OperatorSubscribers (lakh)Ownership
Jio86.18Jio Platforms
BSNL70.84Government of India
Airtel69.03Bharti Airtel
MTNL23.78Government of India
Tata Teleservices15.60Tata Group
Vi7.13Vodafone Idea Limited
Quadrant3.24
Reliance Communications1.48Reliance ADAG

Internet service providers (ISPs)

As of 31 January 2023, there were 989 internet service providers (ISPs) offering broadband (wired + wireless) services; the top 5 services constituted 98.40% market share of the total broadband subscribers according to TRAI.[47] These service providers were :

Market share of broadband (wired + wireless) services in India as of 31 october 2022 according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).[47]

  Jio (51.72%)
  Airtel (28.29%)
  Vi (14.90%)
  BSNL (3.22%)
  ACT (0.26%)
  Others (1.61%)
OperatorSubscribers (crores)Ownership
Jio43.402Jio Platforms
Airtel23.740Bharti Airtel
Vi12.503Vodafone Idea Limited
BSNL2.705Government of India
ACT0.214Atria Convergence

The following table shows the top 5 wired broadband service providers in India by total subscriber base as of 31 January 2023.

Provider Subscribers

(lakh)

 Ownership
Reliance Jio 78.4 Jio Platforms
Airtel 58.5 Bharti Airtel Limited
BSNL 41.8 Government of India
ACT 21.4 Atria Convergence
Hathway 11.3 Reliance Industries Limited

The following table shows the top 5 wireless broadband service providers in India by total subscriber base as of 31 January 2023.

Provider Subscribers

(crores)

 Ownership
Reliance Jio 42.617 Jio Platforms
Airtel 23.154 Bharti Airtel Limited
Vi[Note2 1][48][49] 12.502[Note2 1] Vodafone Idea Limited
BSNL[Note1 1][50] 2.287

[Note2 2][50]

 Government of India
Intech Online Pvt Ltd 0.023

Notes

  • Broadband: Internet access with a minimum capacity of greater or equal 512 Kbit/s in one or both directions.
  • Narrowband: Internet access with a capacity of less than 512 Kbit/s in one or both directions.

Other notable ISPs
Provider Ownership
APSFL Government of Andhra Pradesh
Asianet Broadband Rajan Raheja Group
DEN Networks Reliance Industries
RailTel Corporation of India Government of India
Sify Sify Group
Tata Communications Tata Group
Tata Play Tata Sons (60%)
Walt Disney Company (30%)
Temasek Holdings (10%)

For enterprise/wholesale only
Provider Ownership
CtrlS Datacenters Ltd CtrlS Labs Limited
ERNET Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
GAILTEL Government of India
National Knowledge Network
(for educational institutions only)		 Government of India
PowerGrid Government of India
Tulip Telecom Tulip Enterprises

Telecom R&D firms
NameHeadquartersType
Beetel Gurgaon Private
C-DOT New Delhi State-owned enterprise
HFCL New Delhi Private
Sasken TechnologiesBangalorePrivate
Sterlite TechnologiesPunePrivate
Tejas NetworksBangalorePrivate
United Telecoms LimitedBangaloreState-owned enterprise

See also

Notes
  1. BSNL and MTNL merger approved by Government of India.

References
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