List of telecom companies in India

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This is a list of mobile, DTH, ISP, wireless and wireline operators in India.

Wireless operators[edit]

As of 31 August 2021, there are 1186.72 million wireless subscribers including inactive users in India according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).[1]

Mobile operators[edit]

Market share of mobile telecom operators in India as of 31 August 2021 according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).[1]

  Jio (37.40%)
  Airtel (29.85%)
  Vi (22.84%)
  BSNL (9.63%)
  MTNL (0.28%)
  RCom (0.001%)
Operator Technology Subscribers[1] (millions) Active Users(millions) Ownership
1

Jio

443.86[1] 350.63

Jio Platforms

2

Airtel

354.19[1] 346.84[1]

Bharti Airtel Limited

3

Vi

271.07[1] 236.49[1]

Vodafone Idea Limited

4

BSNL

114.32[1] 57.15

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited

5 MTNL 3.27 0.61 Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited
6 RCom 0.01 0.005 Reliance Communications

Defunct operators[edit]

Operator Started Operations Ceased Operations Fate
Telstra 1990 2000 Merged into Axiata Spice Communications [8]
Escotel 1996 2004 Merged into Idea Cellular [9]
Hutch Essar 1999 2007 Made by Vodafone Group and Essar Group
Axiata Spice Communications 1992 2008 Merged into Idea Cellular [10]
S Tel 2008 2012 Licence cancelled by the Supreme Court of India
Etisalat 2010 [11] 2012 Licence cancelled by the Supreme Court of India [12]
BPL Mobile (Loop Mobile) 1995 2014 Ceased operations after expiration of licence [13]
Virgin Mobile India, T24 Mobile 2009 [14] 2015 Merged into Tata Docomo [15]
Videocon Telecom 2010 [16] 2016 Shut down following sale of spectrum to Bharti Airtel [17][18]
MTS India 2009 2017 Acquired by Reliance Communications [19]
Idea Cellular 2002 2018 Merged with Vodafone India to form Vi [20][21]
Vodafone India 2011 2018 Merged with Idea Cellular to form Vi [20][21]
Aircel 1999 2018 Bankrupt [22]
Telenor India 2009 2018 Acquired by Bharti Airtel [23]
Tata Docomo 2009 2019 Acquired by Bharti Airtel [24]
Reliance Communications 2004 2019 Bankrupt[25]
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited 1986 2020 Subsidiary of BSNL until merger is complete [26][27]

Direct-to-home (DTH) operators[edit]

There are 4 pay DTH service providers and one free-to-air service provider (DD Free Dish) in India.[28]

As of 30 June 2021, there are 69.86 million active pay DTH subscribers, in addition to the subscribers of state-owned DD Free Dish, in the country according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).[28] DD Free Dish has over 40 million subscribers.[29]


List of pay DTH service providers

Market share of pay DTH operators in India as of 30 June 2021 according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

  Tata Sky (33.37%)
  Airtel digital TV (25.76%)
  Dish TV (23.45%)
  Sun Direct (17.41%)
Rank Operator Market Share Ownership
1 Tata Sky 33.37%[28] Tata Sons (60%)
Walt Disney (30%)
Temasek (10%)[30]
2 Airtel digital TV 25.76%[28] Bharti Airtel (100%)
3

Dish TV

23.45%[28] Essel Group (55%)
Videocon (45%)
4 Sun Direct 17.41%[28] Sun Network (80%)
Astro Group (20%)
Notes
  • DD free dish is Free To air Service hence their subscriber data is not shown in TRAI performance report.[28]
  • On 22 March 2018, Dish TV merged with d2h, creating the then largest DTH provider in India.[31]

Wireline operators[edit]

Fixedline operators[edit]

As of 31 August 2021, there are 22.86 million wireline subscribers in India according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).[1]

Market share of FixedLine telecom operators in India as of 31 august 2021 according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).[1]

  BSNL (34.55%)
  Airtel (22.63%)
  Jio (19.28%)
  MTNL (12.36%)
  Tata Teleservices (6.99%)
  Vi (2.46%)
  Quadrant (0.88%)
  RCom (0.84%)
Operator Subscribers (millions) Ownership
1 BSNL[32] 10.7 Department of Telecommunications
2 Airtel 5.17 Bharti Airtel
3 Jio 4.40 Jio Platforms
4 MTNL 2.82 Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
5 Tata Teleservices 1.59 Tata Group
6 Vi 0.56 Vodafone Idea Limited
7 Reliance Communications 0.192 Reliance ADAG
8 Quadrant 0.200 Quadrant Infotech India Pvt. Ltd

Multiple-system operators (MSOs)[edit]

See also: List_of_cable_television_companies § India

As of 30 June 2021, there are 1731 MSOs (some also have an ISP license).[28]

List of top MSOs by subscribers

  • Siti Networks Ltd.
  • GTPL Hathway Ltd.
  • Hathway Digital Ltd.
  • Den Networks Ltd.
  • Thamizhaga Cable TV Communication Pvt Ltd.
  • Kerala Communicators Cable Ltd.
  • Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Ltd.
  • Fastway Transmissions Pvt Ltd.
  • KAL Cables Pvt. Ltd.
  • NXT Digital Ltd (HITS)
  • V K Digital Network Pvt. Ltd.
  • Asianet Digital Network Pvt. Ltd.
  • NXT Digital Ltd (Cable TV)

Internet service providers (ISPs)[edit]

There were 499 internet service providers (ISPs) offering broadband services; top 5 services constituted 98.75% market share of the total Broadband subscribers according to Trai.[1] These service providers were :

Market share of broadband services in India as of 31 august 2021 according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).[1]

  Jio (55.02%)
  Airtel (25.32%)
  Vi (15.19%)
  BSNL (2.98%)
  Atria Convergence (0.24%)
  Others (1.25%)
Operator Subscribers (millions) Ownership
1 Jio 447.57 Jio Platforms
2 Airtel 205.96 Bharti Airtel
3 Vi 123.53 Vodafone Idea Limited
4 BSNL 24.28 Government of India
5 Atria Convergence Technologies 1.95 Atria Convergence

The following table shows the top 5 wired broadband service providers in India by total subscriber base as of 31 august 2021.

Rank Provider Subscribers (Total) (millions) Ownership
1 BSNL 5.49 Government of India
2 Reliance Jio 3.71 Jio Platforms
3 Airtel 3.69 Bharti Airtel Limited
4 ACT Fibernet 1.95 Atria Convergence
5 Hathway 1.08 Reliance Industries Limited

The following table shows the top 5 wireless broadband service providers in India by total subscriber base as of 31 augus 2021.

Rank Provider Subscribers (Wired) (millions) Ownership
1 Reliance Jio 443.86 Jio Platforms
2 Airtel 202.27 Bharti Airtel Limited
3 Vi[Note2 1][33] 123.52 [Note2 1] Vodafone Idea Limited
4 BSNL[Note1 1][32] 18.19 [Note2 2][32] Government of India
5 Tikona Infinet Limited 0.30 Goldman Sachs (40.1%)

Other notable ISPs[edit]

Provider Ownership
APSFL Government of Andhra Pradesh
Asianet Broadband Rajan Raheja Group
DEN Networks Reliance Industries
Kerala Vision KCCL
RailTel Corporation of India Government of India
Sify Sify Group
Spectranet Shyam Telecom Limited
Tata Communications Tata Group
Tata Sky Tata Sons (60%)
Walt Disney Company (30%)
Temasek Holdings (10%)

For enterprise/wholesale only[edit]

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
Notes
  1. On 28 February 2018 Aircel filed for bankruptcy with NCLT and a substantial number of customers have migrated to other service providers due to closing down of most of the consumer services.[34][35]
  2. The services of Telenor India have been merged with Airtel on 14 May 2018.[36]
  3. On 31 August 2018, Vodafone India has been merged with Idea Cellular to form Vi.
  4. The consumer mobile businesses of Tata Docomo, Tata Teleservices (TTSL) and Tata Teleservices Maharashtra Limited (TTML) have been merged into Bharti Airtel from 1 July 2019.

Telecom R&D firms[edit]

Name Headquarters
HTL Ltd. Chennai
Nexge Technologies Chennai
MYMO Wireless Bangalore
Sasken Technologies Bangalore
Tejas Networks Bangalore
United Telecoms Limited Bangalore
Vihaan Networks Gurgaon
WiSig Networks Hyderabad
Sterlite Technologies Pune

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

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

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 "Telecom Subscription Data as on 31 Aug, 2021" (PDF). Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ↑ www.Jio.com. "Reliance Jio VoWiFi is Live". jio.com. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  3. ↑ www.airtel.in. "Airtel VoWiFi is Live". www.airtel.in. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  4. ↑ "Vi (Vodafone Idea) covers All 22 telecom circles with its world class 4G LTE services". www.myvi.in. Archived from the original on 22 December 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  5. ↑ www.myvi.in. "Vi VoWiFi is Live". www.myvi.in. Archived from the original on 3 March 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  6. ↑ www.myvi.in. "VI WiFi Hotpsot Service Live in Mumbai, Pune & Bangalore". myvi.in. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  7. ↑ www.telecomtalk.info. "BSNL 4G VoLTE Service Live in Certain Circles". telecomtalk.info. Archived from the original on 2 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  8. ↑ "Modi To Merge With Telstra And Spice". TelecomPaper. 22 June 2000. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  9. ↑ "Idea acquires Escotel, largest deal in Indian telecom sector". Zee News. 15 January 2004. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  10. ↑ Parbat, Kalyan (2 November 2009). "Idea-Spice merger may ring in gains for Malaysian ally". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 9 September 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  11. ↑ Ramesh, Niranjana; Venkataraman, Hemamalini (24 June 2009). "Etisalat enters India, sets up back office at Ambattur in North Chennai". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 10 September 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2020. {{cite news}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch (help)
  12. ↑ "Etisalat to shut India operations". The Times of India. 23 February 2012. Archived from the original on 4 April 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  13. ↑ "TRAI Directs Loop Mobile To Inform Subscribers of Its Closure". TelecomTalk. 2 October 2020. Archived from the original on 18 May 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  14. ↑ "VIRGIN MOBILE READY TO LAUNCH GSM SERVICE IN INDIA". TelecomTalk. 15 April 2009. Archived from the original on 10 May 2013. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  15. ↑ "Exclusive: Virgin Mobile will be merged into the parent operator Tata Docomo with effect from March 27". TelecomTalk. 26 March 2015. Archived from the original on 18 May 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  16. ↑ Bafna, Sanjay (7 March 2010). "Videocon To Launch GSM Mobile Services In 100 Cities In 100 Days". TelecomTalk. Archived from the original on 3 May 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  17. ↑ Varma (4 May 2016). "Videocon Telecom to shut down Mobile Services on 11th May 2016". DataReign. Archived from the original on 18 May 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  18. ↑ Bafna, Sanjay (3 January 2013). "Videocon To Shut Down GSM Operations in 11 Circles Including Mumbai, Asks Customers To Port Out Before 18 January". TelecomTalk. Archived from the original on 7 June 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  19. ↑ "Reliance Communication gets Bombay HC approval for Sistema acquisition". The Economic Times. 8 October 2016. Archived from the original on 20 August 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Parbat, Kalyan; Sengupta, Devina (31 August 2018). "NCLT gives go-ahead to Idea-Vodafone merger". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 24 April 2019. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Pandey, Navadha (12 January 2018). "NCLT approves Idea-Vodafone merger". LiveMint. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  22. ↑ Pandey, Piyush (28 February 2018). "Aircel files for bankruptcy". The Hindu. Retrieved 18 May 2019. {{cite news}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  23. ↑ Philipose, Mobis (13 October 2017). "Tata Tele deal: How Airtel is getting a billion-dollar business for free". LiveMint. Archived from the original on 18 May 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  24. ↑ "Airtel completes Tata merger". Business Line. 5 June 2019. Archived from the original on 9 September 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  25. ↑ "Tribunal Admits Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications For Bankruptcy". NDTV.com. 10 May 2019. Archived from the original on 18 May 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  26. ↑ "MTNL to be subsidiary of BSNL, government okays". The New Indian Express. 2 November 2019. Archived from the original on 9 September 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  27. ↑ Rathee, Kiran (5 July 2020). "BSNL-MTNL merger may get delayed as govt-appointed panel wants spectrum first". The Financial Express. Archived from the original on 9 September 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 28.4 28.5 28.6 28.7 "Performance Indicator Report April- June 2021" (PDF).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  29. ↑ "DD Free Dish has crossed about 40 million subscribers: Report". The Economic Times. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  30. ↑ Ravikumar, R. "Tata Sky to invest Rs 1,000 cr for tech upgrade". @businessline.
  31. ↑ "Dish TV India, Videocon d2h merger completed". The Economic Times. 22 March 2018. Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 "MTNL to be act as BSNL subsidiary Till Merger Complete". The Hindu. 29 June 2019.
  33. ↑ "About us". You Broadband Limited. 29 June 2019.
  34. ↑ Sengupta, Devina (28 February 2018). "Aircel, country's last small mobile phone operator, files for bankruptcy". The Economic Times. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  35. ↑ "Aircel's bankruptcy note on Facebook".
  36. ↑ Gulveen Aulakh. "DoT approves Bharti Airtel and Telenor India merger". The Economic Times.

External links[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 After adding subscribers of You Broadband Because it is subsidiary of Vi.
  2. ↑ After adding subscribers of MTNL to BSNL, because MTNL will merge with BSNL.
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