List_of_Bangalore_telecom_companies

List of telecom companies in India

Add article description

This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: MTNL is yet not merged with BSNL, update accordingly TRAI's telecom subscription report. (October 2022)

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.^[1]

As of 30 September 2023, there are 64.18 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).^[1] DD Free Dish has over 4 crore (40 million) subscribers.^[1]

Market share of pay DTH operators in India as of 30 September 2023 according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)

Tata Play (32.43%)

Airtel digital TV (27.01%)

Dish TV (21.54%)

Sun Direct (19.02%)

More information Operator, Market share ...


Operator	Market share	Ownership
Tata Play	32.43%^[1]	Tata Group (70%) Walt Disney (30%)
Airtel Digital TV	27.01%^[1]	Bharti Airtel (100%)
Dish TV	21.54%^[1]	Publicly Owned
Sun Direct	19.02%^[1]	Sun TV Network (80%) Astro Group (20%)
DD Free Dish		Government of India

Notes

DD free dish is a free-to-air service hence their subscriber data is not shown in the TRAI performance report.^[1]
On 22 March 2018, Dish TV merged with d2h, creating the then-largest DTH service provider in India.^[2]

Multiple-system operators (MSOs)

As of 30 September 2023, there are 995 MSOs (some also have an ISP license).^[1]

List of top MSOs by subscribers

More information Operator, Total Active Subscriber Base (in million) ...


Operator	Total Active Subscriber Base^[1] (in million)
GTPL Hathway Ltd	9,011,425
Siti Networks Ltd	5,775,169
Hathway Digital Ltd	5,385,246
Thamizhaga Cable TV Communication Pvt Ltd. (TCCL)	3,821,799
Den Networks Ltd	3,816,171
Kerala Communicators Cable Ltd (KCCL)	3,314,769
NXT Digital Ltd (HITS)	2,263,930
KAL Cables	2,031,754
V K Digital Network Pvt. Ltd	1,677,702
Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Ltd (TACTV)	1,602,780
Fastway Transmissions Pvt Ltd	1,564,564
NXT Digital Ltd (CATV)	1,122,783

Wireless operators

As of 31 December 2023, there are 1.158 billion wireless subscribers in India (including inactive users) according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).^[3]

Market share of Wireless Mobile operators in India as of 31 December 2023 according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)^[4]

Reliance Jio (39.69%)

Bharti Airtel (32.95%)

Vodafone Idea (19.25%)

BSNL (7.94%)

MTNL (0.17%)

Mobile operators

Over the past decade, the Indian cellular services market has seen rapid consolidation. The launch of Jio Platforms 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.^[5]^[6]^[7]

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.^[5]

In 2018, Airtel India 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.^[8]

Active operators

More information Operator (Estd.), Brands ...

List of active mobile operators in the country (as on 31 December 2023)
Operator (Estd.)	Brands	Total Subscribers (million)	Active Subscribers (million)	Technologies	Ownership	Notes
Airtel India (1995)	Airtel (stylised as 'airtel')	381.73^[3]	377.54^[3]	5G, 4G, 2G^[9]^[10]	Bharti Enterprises (66.57) Telenor (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%.^[11] Subscriber count and active users include Bharti Hexacom.
BSNL (2000)	CellOne^[12] BSNL Mobile	91.96^[3]	48.64^[3]	4G(limited testing),^[13] 3G, 2G^[14]	Government of India (100%)	BSNL does not directly operate in Delhi and Mumbai.^[15]
MTNL (1986)	Dolphin^[16] MTNL Delhi^[17] Trump, MTNL Mumbai^[18]	1.94^[3]	0.50^[3]	3G, 2G^[19]	Government of India (100%)	MTNL only operates in Delhi and Mumbai.^[20] MTNL is in the process of being merged with BSNL. The merger is expected to be completed by 2025.^[21] Since January 2021, the operations of MTNL's networks have been outsourced to BSNL.^[22]
Reliance Jio (2016)	Jio	459.81^[3]	424.51^[3]	5G, 4G^[23]	Jio Platforms Limited (100%)	Not to be confused with Reliance Communications.
Vodafone Idea Limited (2018)	Vi (stylised as 'V!')	223.05^[3]	196.68^[3]	4G, 2G^[24]	Government of India (32.09%) Vodafone India (31.27%) Idea Cellular (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'.^[25]

Defunct operators

As of 31 December 2022, 16 mobile operators have ceased operations in India. The longest operating defunct operator is Aircel, while the oldest is Modi-Telstra^[26] - which was also the first mobile operator in the country.^[27] Most recently, Reliance Communications ceased operations citing bankruptcy.^[28]

More information Operator, Started operations ...

List of notable mobile operators that provided services in the country (as on 31 December 2022)
Operator	Started operations	Ceased operations	Fate
Modi-Telstra^[26]	1990		Merged into Axiata Spice Communications^[29]
Escotel	1996		Merged into Idea Cellular^[30]
Hutch Essar	1999		Acquired by Vodafone to form Vodafone India
Axiata Spice Communications	1992		Merged into Idea Cellular^[31]
S Tel	2012		Licence cancelled by the Supreme Court of India
Etisalat	2010^[32]	2012	Licence cancelled by the Supreme Court of India^[33]
BPL Mobile (Loop Mobile)	1995	2014	Ceased operations after expiration of licence^[34]
Virgin Mobile India / T24 Mobile	2009^[35]	2015	Merged into Tata Docomo ^[36]
Singtel India	2009	2017	Acquired by Reliance Communications
Videocon Telecom	2010^[37]	2016	Shut down following sale of spectrum to Bharti Airtel^[38]^[39]
MTS India	2009	2017	Acquired by Reliance Communications^[40]
Aircel	1999	2018	Bankrupt^[41]
Telenor India	2006	2018	Acquired by Bharti Airtel^[42]
Idea Cellular	2002	2018	Merged with Vodafone India to form Vi^[43]^[44]
Vodafone India	2011	2018	Merged with Idea Cellular to form Vi^[43]^[44]
Tata Docomo	2009	2019	Acquired by Bharti Airtel^[45]
Reliance Communications	2004	2019	Closed By Reliance To Form Jio^[28]

Wireline operators

Fixed-line operators

As of 31 December 2023, there are 31.84 million wireline subscribers in India according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).^[46]

<div style="border:solid transparent;background-color:initial;position:absolute;width:100px;line-height:0;<div style="border:solid transparent;background-color:initial;position:absolute;width:100px;line-height:0;<div style="border:solid transparent;background-color:initial;position:absolute;width:100px;line-height:0;

Market share of fixed-line telecom operators in India as of 30 June 2023 according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India^[4]

Jio (34.70%)

Airtel (26.11%)

BSNL (19.28%)

Tata Teleservices (7.03%)

MTNL (6.95%)

Vi (2.17%)

Quadrant (1.18%)

RCom (0.46%)

V-CON (0.04%)

More information Operator, Subscribers (lakh) ...

Operator	Subscribers^[1] (lakh)	Ownership
Jio	91.2	Jio Platforms
Airtel	71.5	Bharti Airtel
BSNL	71.1	Government of India
MTNL	23.1	Government of India
Tata Teleservices	15.4	Tata Group
Vi	7.0	Vodafone Idea Limited
Quadrant	3.4
Reliance Communications	1.5	Reliance ADAG

Internet service providers (ISPs)

Internet service providers (ISPs) offering broadband (wired + wireless) services. The total number of broadband subscribers stood at 904.54 million as of 31 December 2023.^[47]^[46] Total Wireless broadband subscribers stood at 866.19 million and Wireline broadband subscribers stood at 38.35 million.^[4] The top 5 services constituted 98.35% market share of the total broadband subscribers according to TRAI.^[46] These service providers were:

Market share of broadband (wired + wireless) services in India as of 31 December 2023 according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)^[4]

Jio (51.98%)

Airtel (29.27%)

Vi (14.07%)

BSNL (2.78%)

ACT (0.25%)

Others (1.65%)

More information Operator, Subscribers (million) ...

Operator	Subscribers^[46] (million)	Ownership
Jio	470.19	Jio Platforms
Airtel	264.76	Bharti Airtel
Vi	127.29	Vodafone Idea Limited
BSNL	25.12	Government of India
ACT	2.23	Atria Convergence

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

More information Provider, Subscribers (million) ...

Provider	Subscribers^[46] (million)	Ownership
Jio	10.38	Jio Platforms
Airtel	7.39	Bharti Airtel
BSNL	3.83	Government of India
ACT	2.23	Atria Convergence
OneOTT Intertainment	1.21	Hinduja Group

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

More information Provider, Subscribers (million) ...

Provider	Subscribers^[46] (million)	Ownership
Jio	459.81	Jio Platforms
Airtel	257.37	Bharti Airtel
Vi^{[Note2 1]}^[48]^[49]	127.28^{[Note2 1]}	Vodafone Idea Limited
BSNL^{[Note1 1]}^[50]	21.28^{[Note2 2]}^[50]	Government of India
Intech Online	0.24

Notes

Broadband: Internet access with a minimum capacity of greater or equal 2 Mbit/s in download and not in both directions.
Narrowband: Internet access with a capacity of less than 2 Mbit/s one or both directions.

Other notable ISPs

More information Provider, Ownership ...

Provider	Ownership
APSFL	Government of Andhra Pradesh
Asianet Broadband	Rajan Raheja Group
DEN Networks	Reliance Industries
Hathway	Reliance Industries
RailTel	Government of India
Sify	Sify Group
Tata Communications	Tata Group
Tata Play	Tata Group (70%) The Walt Disney Company India (30%)

For enterprise/wholesale only

More information Provider, Ownership ...


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

More information Name, Headquarters ...

Name	Headquarters	Type
Beetel	Gurgaon	Private
C-DOT	New Delhi	State-owned enterprise
HFCL	New Delhi	Private
Sasken Technologies	Bangalore	Private
Sterlite Technologies	Pune	Private
Tejas Networks	Bangalore	Private
United Telecoms Limited	Bangalore	State-owned enterprise

Notes

[N 1]
BSNL and MTNL merger approved by Government of India.

[N 1]
After adding subscribers of You Broadband Because it is subsidiary of Vi.
[N 2]
After adding subscribers of MTNL to BSNL, because MTNL will merge with BSNL.

References

[1]
"The Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report July - September, 2023" (PDF). trai.com.
[2]
"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.
[3]
"Highlights of Telecom Subscription Data as on 31st December, 2023" (PDF). TELECOM REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF INDIA.
[4]
"Telecom Subscription Data as on 31 December 2023" (PDF). Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
[5]
www.ETTelecom.com. "Resilience, re-consolidation and reality of the telecom sector in India - Tele-Talk by Sonam Chandwani | ET Telecom". ETTelecom.com. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
[6]
"Reliance Jio crosses 100 million users within 6 months". The Times of India. 22 February 2017. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
[7]
"How Asia's richest man won the mobile data price war in India". Rest of World. 15 July 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
[8]
Natrajkumar, Nandita (31 August 2018). "Airtel to lose position as top telecom firm in India after 15 years; what is its future?". www.ibtimes.co.in. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
[9]
"Airtel is shutting down 3G services across India: 15 things that subscribers need to know". Gadgets Now. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
[10]
"Airtel 5G Plus launched today". www.airtel.in. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
[11]
"Bharti Hexacom". Bharti Hexacom.
[12]
"PIB Press Releases". archive.pib.gov.in. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
[13]
"BSNL Launches 4G beta services".
[14]
www.ETTelecom.com. "BSNL approves 2G, 3G network upgrade contract to ZTE, Nokia for fastest 4G rollout - ET Telecom". ETTelecom.com. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
[15]
"BSNL customers can activate Vi roaming network in Delhi and NCR, here is how". India Today. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
[16]
"Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd". Business Standard India. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
[17]
"MTNL Delhi". mtnldelhi.in. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
[18]
"ABOUT - MTNL MUMBAI".
[19]
"MTNL Delhi". mtnldelhi.in. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
[20]
"MTNL: Reports, Company History, Directors Report, Chairman's Speech, Auditors Report of MTNL - NDTV". www.ndtv.com. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
[21]
"Govt starts process to delist MTNL for merger with BSNL". MSN. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
[22]
Thakur, Tanay Singh. "BSNL to Operate Mobile Network of MTNL in Delhi and Mumbai Circle". telecomtalk.info/. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
[23]
"Reliance Jio 4G: 5 things to know before you get Jio SIM". India Today. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
[24]
Kaur, Gagandeep. "India's Vodafone Idea to shut down 3G network". Light Reading.
[25]
Gupta, Aneesh Phadnis, Abhijit Lele & Surajeet Das (3 February 2023). "Govt gets 33% stake in Vodafone Idea, promoters to invest as well". www.business-standard.com. Retrieved 9 March 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
[26]
"25 years of Mobility in India: The first mobile phone call was made on this day". HT Tech. 31 July 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
[27]
"25 Years Ago, the First Mobile Phone Call Was Made in India, Costing Over Rs 8/Minute". News18. 31 July 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
[28]
"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.
[29]
"Modi To Merge With Telstra And Spice". TelecomPaper. 22 June 2000. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
[30]
"Idea acquires Escotel, largest deal in Indian telecom sector". Zee News. 15 January 2004. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
[31]
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.
[32]
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 9 September 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
[33]
"Etisalat to shut India operations". The Times of India. 23 February 2012. Archived from the original on 4 April 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
[34]
"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.
[35]
"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.
[36]
"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.
[37]
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.
[38]
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.
[39]
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.
[40]
"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.
[41]
Pandey, Piyush (28 February 2018). "Aircel files for bankruptcy". The Hindu. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
[42]
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.
[43]
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.
[44]
Pandey, Navadha (12 January 2018). "NCLT approves Idea-Vodafone merger". LiveMint. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
[45]
"Airtel completes Tata merger". Business Line. 5 June 2019. Archived from the original on 9 September 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
[46]
"Telecom Subscription Data as on 31st December, 2023" (PDF).
[47]
"Service Provider List". Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
[48]
"About us". You Broadband Limited. 29 June 2019.
[49]
"Home Broadband". Digital Network Associates Pvt. Ltd. 26 November 2021.
[50]
"MTNL to be act as BSNL subsidiary Till Merger Complete". The Hindu. 29 June 2019.

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article List_of_Bangalore_telecom_companies, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.