List of telecom companies in India

This article about wireless, mobile, DTH and internet service providers list and subscriber base in India. There are four wireless operators and 379 internet service providers end of 30 November 2020. [1]

Wireless operators

As of 30 November 2020, there are 1155.20 million wireless subscribers including inactive users in India according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).[1]

Mobile operators

Market share of mobile telecom operators in India as of 30 November 2020 according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).[1]

  Jio (35.34%)
  Airtel (28.97%)
  Vi (25.10%)
  BSNL (10.59%)
OperatorTechnologySubscribers[1] (millions)Active UsersOwnership
1

Jio

408.29[1] 324.78[3][4]

Jio Platforms

2

Airtel

334.66[1][6] 323.39[1][6]

Bharti Airtel Limited

3

Vi

289.95[1] 258.07[1]

[11]

Vodafone Idea Limited

4

BSNL Mobile

122.28[1] 62.17

Government of India

Defunct operators

Operator Started Operations Ceased Operations Fate
Modi Telstra 1990 Merged into Axiata Spice Communications [13]
Hutch Essar 1999

Acquired BPL Mobile

2007 Bought by Vodafone Group
Axiata Spice Communications 1992 2008 Merged into Idea Cellular [14]
S Tel 2008 2012 Licence cancelled by the Supreme Court of India
Etisalat 2010 [15] 2012 Licence cancelled by the Supreme Court of India [16]
Loop Mobile 1995 2014 Ceased operations after expiration of licence [17]
Virgin Mobile India, T24 Mobile 2009 [18] 2015 Merged into Tata Docomo [19]
Videocon Telecom 2010 [20] 2016 Shut down following sale of spectrum to Bharti Airtel [21][22]
MTS India 2009 2017 Acquired by Reliance Communications [23]
Idea Cellular 2002 2018 Merged with Vodafone India to form Vi [24][25]
Vodafone India 2011 2018 Merged with Idea Cellular to form Vi [24][25]
Aircel 1999 2018 Bankrupt [26]
Telenor India 2009 2018 Acquired by Bharti Airtel [27]
Tata Docomo 2009 2019 Acquired by Bharti Airtel [28]
Reliance Communications 2002 2019 Bankrupt [29]
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited 1986 2020 Subsidiary of BSNL until merger is complete [30][31]

Timeline of operators

Virgin Mobile / T24
Tata DoCoMo acquired Virgin Mobile in 2015
Tata DoCoMo
Telenor India
Videocon Telecom
2016
2018
2019
Bharti Airtel
 
Hutch Essar
Vodafone India
Vodafone Idea ( Vi )
Idea Cellular
Idea Cellular acquired Spice Communications in 2008
Spice Communications
Modi Telestra was merged into Spice Telecom in 2000
Modi Telestra
 
Reliance Jio
 
1995
2001
2007
2013
2019
BPL / Loop Mobile
Aircel
Reliance Communications
RCom. acquired MTS India in 2017
MTS India
S Tel
Etisalat

Direct-to-home (DTH) operators

As of 30 September 2020, there are 70.70  million active pay DTH subscribers in addition to free to air state owned Dth(dd free dish) in the country according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).[32]

Market share of pay DTH operators in India as of September 2020 according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).[33]

  Tata Sky (32.58%)
  Dish TV (27.00%)
  Airtel Digital TV (24.59%)
  Sun Direct (15.83%)
Rank Operator Subscribers
(Millions)
Ownership
1 DD Free Dish 30.03[34][35] Prasar Bharati
2 Tata Sky 23.03[32][36] Tata Sons (60%)
The Walt Disney Company (30%)
Temasek Holdings (10%)[37]
3

Dish TV
(Zing Digital)
(d2h)[38][39][40]

19.09[32][39] Zee Entertainment Enterprises (100%)
4 Airtel digital TV 17.39[32][41] Bharti Airtel Limited (100%)
5 Sun Direct 11.19[32] 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.[32]
  • On 22 March 2018, Dish TV merged with d2h, creating the largest DTH provider in India at that time.[38]

Wireline operators

Fixedline operators

As of 30 November 2020, there are 20.07 million wireline subscribers in India according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).[1]

Market share of FixedLine telecom operators in India as of 30 November 2020 according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).[1]

  BSNL (51.86%)
  Airtel (22.51%)
  Jio (12.55%)
  Tata Teleservices (8.29%)
  Vi (2.60%)
  Quadrant (0.98%)
OperatorSubscribers (millions)Ownership
1BSNL[42]10.40Government of India
2Airtel4.51Bharti Airtel
3Jio2.52Jio Platforms
4Tata Teleservices1.66Tata Group
5Vi0.52Vodafone Idea Limited
6Reliance Communications0.24Reliance ADAG
7Quadrant0.19Quadrant Infotech India Pvt. Ltd

Multiple-system operators (MSOs)

As of 1 January 2016, there are 415 MSOs (some also have an ISP license).[43]

  • A.Ptv Network
  • Advanced Multisystem Broadband Communication Pvt. Ltd
  • Alliance Broadband Services Pvt. Ltd.
  • RCCNetwork Cable & Broadband services
  • Arasu Cable
  • Arkays Digital Media Cable
  • Asianet Satellite Communications Limited
  • Atria Convergence Technologies
  • Barasat Cable TV Network Pvt. Ltd
  • CableComm Services Pvt. Ltd
  • ChandparaCable TV Network Ltd
  • Channel 3
  • Darshan Pooja Cable TV Network
  • DEN Networks
  • Dew Shree Network
  • Digi Maharaja Cable Network
  • DIGICON
  • DL GTPL Cabnet Pvt. Ltd
  • Dolly Cable Network
  • DWL - Digital Space Link
  • Fastway Transmissions Pvt. Ltd.[44]
  • Gujarat Telelink P Limited (GTPL)
  • Hathway
  • Home Cable Network Pvt Limited
  • ICE TV Pvt
  • IndusInd Media & Communication Ltd (IMCL)
  • JAK Communications
  • JPR Channel
  • Kailash Cable Network P Ltd
  • Kal Cables Pvt. Ltd
  • Kerala Communicators Cable Ltd
  • Kolkata Cable & Broadband Pariseva Ltd
  • Link Entertainment (Howrah Cable)
  • Live Satellite
  • Mahalakshmi Digital Cable (MLC Communications)
  • Manthan Digital/Manthan Broadband Services Pvt Ltd
  • Marine BizTV
  • Mohit Cable Vision
  • NXT Digital (Hinduja-HITS network)
  • Ortel Communications
  • Prem Channels Pvt Ltd
  • Ravi Cable Network
  • Ramtek City Cable Network
  • Rupnarayan Cable & Broadband Services Pvt Ltd
  • Reliance Digicom (ex Digicable)
  • RVR Infra
  • VBNL{VISION BHARAT BROADCAST DIGITAL CABLE TV BROADBAND NETWORK PRIVATE LIMITED}
  • Sanjay Cable Network Pvt Ltd
  • Satellite Vision Cable TV & Broadband Services
  • Satellite Vision Pvt Limited
  • SCV
  • Seven Star Dot Com Pvt Ltd
  • Silver Line Broadband Services P Ltd
  • Siti Cable (Siti Network Limited)
  • Siti Vision Digital Media
  • Spectra Net Ltd
  • Star Broadband Services (India) P Ltd
  • STV Network
  • TACTV
  • UCN Cable Network Pvt. Ltd
  • Universal Communication System
  • You Telecom
  • Viom Networks

Internet service providers (ISPs)

There were 379 internet service providers (ISPs) offering broadband and narrow band internet services; top 5 services constituted 98.84% market share of the total 742.06 million Broadband and narrow band subscribers according to Trai.[1]

Market share of FixedLine telecom operators in India as of 30 September 2020 according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).[45]

  Jio (55.27%)
  Airtel (23.51%)
  Vi (10.30%)
  BSNL (3.52%)
  Atria Convergence (0.24%)
  Others (1.16%)
OperatorSubscribers (millions)Ownership
1Jio410.17Jio Platforms
2Airtel174.47Bharti Airtel
3Vi120.97Vodafone Idea Limited
4BSNL26.13Government of India
5Atria Convergence1.76Atria Convergence

The following table shows the top 7 ISPs in India by total subscriber base as of 31 March 2020. Broadband is defined as "an always-on Internet connection with download speed of 512 kbit/s or above." The number of internet users are 743.19 million, out of which 55.75 million are narrow band subscribers and 687.44 million are broadband subscribers.[32]

Rank Provider Subscribers (Narrowband) (millions) Subscribers (Broadband) (millions) Subscribers (Total) (millions) Ownership
1 Reliance Jio 0 388.39 388.39 Jio Platforms
2 Airtel 27.11 148.57 175.68 Bharti Airtel Limited
3 Vi [Note2 1][46] 22.03 [Note2 1] 118.23 [Note2 1] 140.26 [Note2 1] Vodafone Idea Limited
4 BSNL [Note1 1][42] 6.57 [Note2 2][42] 25.36 [Note2 2][42] 31.93 [Note2 2][42] Government of India
5 ACT Fibernet 0 1.61 1.61 TA Associates
6 Hathway 0 0.97 0.97 Reliance Industries Limited
7 GTPL Broadband Pvt. Ltd. 0 0.36 0.36 Reliance Industries Limited

Other notable ISPs

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 (45%)
Government of India (35%)
Tata Sky Tata Sons (60%)
Walt Disney Company (30%)
Temasek Holdings (10%)
Tikona Infinet Limited Goldman Sachs (40.1%)

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
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.[47][48]
  2. The services of Telenor India have been merged with Airtel on 14 May 2018.[49]
  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

NameHeadquarters
MYMO WirelessBangalore
Sasken TechnologiesBangalore
Tejas NetworksBangalore
Sterlite TechnologiesPune

See also

Notes

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

    References

    [50]

    1. "Telecom Subscription Data as on 30st November, 2020" (PDF). Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. 30 November 2020.
    2. www.Jio.com. "Reliance Jio VoWiFi is Live". jio.com. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
    3. https://www.totaltele.com/507461/Reliance-Jio-boasts-huge-subscriber-base-but-just-how-many-are-active-users
    4. https://www.ft.com/content/300e6963-e352-4377-bd29-c81f3366c48d?shareType=nongift
    5. www.airtel.in. "Airtel VoWiFi is Live". www.airtel.in. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
    6. https://trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/PR_No.84of2020.pdf}
    7. "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.
    8. Vodafone Idea Limited. "Vi VoLte". www.myvi.in. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
    9. www.myvi.in. "VI WiFi Hotpsot Service Live in Mumbai, Pune & Bangalore". myvi.in. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
    10. www.myvi.in. "Vi VoWiFi is Live". www.myvi.in. Archived from the original on 16 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
    11. "Q1-Report-FY 2020-21 By Vodafone Idea Limited" (PDF). 6 August 2020.
    12. 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.
    13. "Modi To Merge With Telstra And Spice". TelecomPaper. 22 June 2000. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
    14. 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.
    15. 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.
    16. "Etisalat to shut India operations". The Times of India. 23 February 2012. Archived from the original on 4 April 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
    17. "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.
    18. "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.
    19. "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.
    20. 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.
    21. 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.
    22. 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.
    23. "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.
    24. 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.
    25. Pandey, Navadha (12 January 2018). "NCLT approves Idea-Vodafone merger". LiveMint. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
    26. Pandey, Piyush (28 February 2018). "Aircel files for bankruptcy". The Hindu. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
    27. 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.
    28. "Airtel completes Tata merger". Business Line. 5 June 2019. Archived from the original on 9 September 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
    29. "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.
    30. "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.
    31. 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.
    32. "The Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators" (PDF) (Press release). TRAI. 31 March 2020. pp. 101–114. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
    33. TRAI, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. "The Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report October – March 2020" (PDF). New Delhi, India: TRAI. p. 102. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
    34. Laghate, Gaurav (23 June 2019). "dd free dish has 30 million subscribers". indiantelevision.com. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
    35. Laghate, Gaurav (23 June 2019). "DD India to be available in Bangladesh, South Korea, which has nearly 35 million subscribers across the country". thehindubusinessline.com. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
    36. "With DTH evolution, life is not so 'jhingalala' for Tata Sky - The Economic Times". Archived from the original on 19 September 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
    37. Ravikumar, R. "Tata Sky to invest Rs 1,000 cr for tech upgrade". @businessline.
    38. "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.
    39. "Dish TV India, Videocon d2h merger completed". 22 March 2018. Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 17 June 2018 via The Economic Times.
    40. "Dish TV's Q1 subs adds strong, EBITDA up 12% amid flat ARPU | TelevisionPost.com". www.televisionpost.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
    41. "Airtel Digital TV's Q1 net subs adds highest in 4 years, EBITDA up 9.5% QoQ | TelevisionPost.com". www.televisionpost.com. Archived from the original on 3 October 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
    42. "MTNL to be act as BSNL subsidiary Till Merger Complete". The Hindu. 29 June 2019.
    43. "Highlights of Telecom Subscription Data" (PDF). TRAI. TRAI. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 March 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
    44. "MSO in India". Retrieved 28 May 2020.
    45. "TRAI releases Telecom Subscription Data as on 30th September, 2020" (PDF). Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. 30 September 2020.
    46. "About us". You Broadband Limited. 29 June 2019.
    47. Sengupta, Devina (28 February 2018). "Aircel, country's last small mobile phone operator, files for bankruptcy". The Economic Times. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
    48. "Aircel's bankruptcy note on Facebook".
    49. Gulveen Aulakh. "DoT approves Bharti Airtel and Telenor India merger". The Economic Times.
    50. Dubey, Rishi (14 July 2020). "My Jio App".

    Hutch BPL Mobile formalise merger

    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.