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List of telecom companies in India

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Telecom services providing companies in India are regulated by Department of Telecommunications and TRAI which comes under Ministry of Communications, Government of India.

Direct-to-home (DTH) operators

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There are 4 pay-for-use DTH service providers and one free-to-air service provider (DD Free Dish) in India.[1]

As of 31.03.2026, there are 49.05 million active DTH subscribers, in addition to the subscribers of state-owned DD Free Dish, in the country according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Market share of pay DTH operators in India as of 31 March 2026, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)
  1. Tata Play (30.9%)
  2. Airtel Digital TV (28.4%)
  3. Dish TV (19.1%)
  4. Sun Direct (21.6%)
Operator Market share Ownership
Tata Play 30.92% Tata Group (70%)
Disney India (30%)
Airtel Digital TV 28.36% Bharti Airtel (100%)
Dish TV 19.11% Publicly owned (95.96%)
Sun Direct 21.61% Sun TV Network (80%)
Astro (20%)
DD Free Dish Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (100%)

Notes

  • DD Free Dish is a free-to-air service; hence, their subscriber data is not shown in the TRAI performance report.[1]

Multiple-system operators (MSOs)

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As of 31 March 2026, there are 752 MSO and 2 HITS operators

List of top MSOs by subscribers

No Operator Total active subscriber base[1]
1 GTPL Hathway Ltd 71,62,192
2 Hathway Digital Ltd 51,74,077
3 Siti Networks Ltd 48,10,710
4 Thamizhaga Cable TV Communication Pvt Ltd. (TCCL) 38,03,451
5 Kerala Communicators Cable Ltd (KCCL) 36,48,628
6 Den Networks Ltd 32,52,764
7 NXT Digital Ltd (HITS) 24,39,067
8 KAL Cables 19,50,373
9 V K Digital Network Pvt. Ltd 15,60,585
10 Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Ltd (TACTV) 14,78,718
11 Fastway Transmissions Pvt Ltd 13,15,751
12 NXT Digital Ltd (CATV) 12,33,233

Wireless operators

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As of 31.08.2026 there were around 1312.25 million wireless subscribers in India, according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).[2]

Market share of wireless mobile operators in India as of 31.07.2026, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)[3]
  1. Jio (39.3%)
  2. Airtel (38.0%)
  3. Vodafone Idea (15.4%)
  4. BSNL (7.25%)

Mobile operators

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Over the past decade,[when?] 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 8 crore (80 million) subscribers. 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.

Active operators

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List of active mobile operators in the country (as on 31.08.2026)
Operator

(estd.)

 Brands Total subscribers (million) Active subscribers (million) Technologies Ownership Notes
Jio (2016) Jio 508.43 502.33 5G (VoNR), 4G (VoLTE, VoWiFi) Jio Platforms (100%) The 'Jio' brand is operated by Reliance Industries.
Airtel (1995) Airtel 491.60 486.76 5G(VoNR for postpaid), 4G (VoLTE, VoWiFi), 2G Bharti Enterprises (66.57)

Singtel (32.15) Alphabet Inc. (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%.[4]

Subscriber count and active users include Bharti Hexacom.

Vi (2018) Vi 199.57 167.32 5G (Some Cities), 4G (VoLTE, VoWiFi), 2G[5] Government of India (49%)
Vodafone Group (16%)
Aditya Birla Group (9.5%)
Public Shareholding (25.5%)		 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'.[6]
BSNL Mobile (2000) BSNL 93.67 50.93 4G (VoLTE, VoWiFi[7]), 3G,2G Government of India (100%) BSNL (VNOs) operates all over India[8]. BSNL has excellent network coverage in many states of India. BSNL is installing more towers to improve network across India.[9] BSNL provides cheapest recharge plans in entire telecom industry.

Defunct operators

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As of 28 September 2026, 17 mobile operators have ceased operations in India. The longest operating defunct operator is MTNL which was also the first mobile operator in the country.[10]

List of notable mobile operators that provided services in the country (as on 28 September 2026)
Operator Started operations Ceased operations Fate
Modi Telstra 1995[11] 2000 Merged into Axiata[12]
Escotel 1996 2004 Merged into Idea Cellular[13]
S Tel 2008 2012 Licence cancelled by the Supreme Court of India
Etisalat 2010[14] 2012 Licence cancelled by the Supreme Court of India[15]
Loop Mobile 1995 2014 Ceased operations after expiration of licence[16]
Virgin Mobile / T24 Mobile 2009[17] 2015 Merged into Tata DoCoMo[18]
Axiata 1995 2016 Merged into Idea Cellular[19]
Videocon Telecom 2010[20] 2016 Shut down following sale of spectrum to Bharti Airtel[21][22]
Singtel 2009 2017 Acquired by Airtel
MTS 2009 2017 Acquired by Reliance Communications[23]
Aircel 1999 2018 Bankrupt[24]
Telenor 2006 2018 Acquired by Airtel[25]
Idea Cellular 2002 2018 Merged with Vodafone India to form Vodafone Idea[26][27]
Vodafone India 2011 2018 Merged with Idea Cellular to form Vodafone Idea[26][27]
Tata DoCoMo 2009 2019 Acquired by Bharti Airtel[28]
Reliance Communications 2004 2018 Declared bankruptcy, subsequently acquired by Jio[29]
MTNL 1986 2025 Merged into BSNL[10]

Wireline operators

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Fixed-line operators

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As of 31.08.2026, there are 48.48 million wireline subscribers in India according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).[2]

Market share of fixed-line telecom operators in India as of 31.08.2026, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India[2]
  1. Jio (33.0%)
  2. Airtel (25.4%)
  3. BSNL (13.7%)
  4. Tata Teleservices (23.0%)
  5. MTNL (2.17%)
  6. Others (2.66%)

The number of subscribers of all 10 companies are tabulated as follows:

OperatorSubscribers[1] (lakh)Ownership
Jio159.79Jio Platforms
Airtel122.85Bharti Airtel
Tata Teleservices112.02Tata Group
BSNL66.50Government of India
MTNL10.50Government of India
Vi7.54Vodafone Group

Aditya Birla Group

APSFL0.78Government of Andhra Pradesh
Quadrant3.24Videocon Telecom
Reliance Communications0.75Reliance Group
STPL0.58Sudhana Telecommunications Private Limited

Internet service providers (ISPs)

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Internet service providers (ISPs) offering broadband (wired + wireless) services. The total number of broadband subscribers stood at 1101.21 million as of 31.08.2026.[30][31] Total Wireless broadband subscribers stood at 1052.58 million and wireline broadband subscribers stood at 48.63 million.[3]

Market share of broadband (wired + wireless) services in India as of 31.08.2026, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)[3]
  1. Jio (48.9%)
  2. Airtel (35.1%)
  3. Vi (11.9%)
  4. BSNL (2.53%)
  5. ACT (0.23%)
  6. Others (1.42%)

As of 31.08.2026, the top five wired + wireless broadband service providers which have market share of 98.58% is as follows:

OperatorSubscribers[31] (million)Ownership
Jio538.03Jio Platforms
Airtel386.39Bharti Airtel
Vi130.88Vodafone Group

Aditya Birla Group

BSNL27.82Government of India
Atria Convergence Technologies Limited2.48

Other notable ISPs

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Provider Ownership
Apsfl Government of Andhra Pradesh
Asianet Broadband Rajan Raheja Group
Kerala Vision Broadband Kerala Communicatiors Cable Limited (KCCL)
Den Networks Reliance Industries
Hathway Reliance Industries
Railtel Government of India
Sify Sify Group
Tata Play Fiber Tata Group (70%)
Disney India (30%)
Excitel

For enterprise/wholesale only

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Provider Ownership
CtrlS Datacenters CtrlS Labs
ERNET Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
Gailtel Government of India
National Knowledge Network
(for educational institutions only)		 Government of India
Powertel Government of India
Tulip Telecom Tulip Enterprises

Telecom R&D firms

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NameHeadquartersType
Beetel Gurugram Private
C-DOT New Delhi State-owned enterprise
HFCL Gurugram Private
Sasken TechnologiesBengaluruPrivate
Sterlite TechnologiesPunePrivate
Tejas NetworksBengaluruPrivate
UTLBengaluruState-owned enterprise

See also

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Notes

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    References

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    1. 1 2 3 4 "The Indian Telecom Subscription Data, November 2024" (PDF).
    2. 1 2 3 "Telecom Subscription Reports" (PDF). TELECOM REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF INDIA.
    3. 1 2 3 "TRAI releases Telecom Subscription Data as on July 2026 | Telecom Regulatory Authority of India | Government of India". www.trai.gov.in.
    4. ↑ "Bharti Hexacom". Bharti Hexacom.
    5. ↑ Kaur, Gagandeep. "India's Vodafone Idea to shut down 3G network On year 2022". Light Reading.
    6. ↑ Phadnis, Aneesh; Lele, Abhijit; Das Gupta, Surajeet (3 February 2023). "Govt gets 33% stake in Vodafone Idea, promoters to invest as well". www.business-standard.com. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
    7. ↑ "Press Release Page | Press Information Bureau". www.pib.gov.in. Retrieved 11 September 2026.
    8. ↑ "BSNL launches virtual network operator services across India | Business Standard News". Archived from the original on 24 July 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2026.
    9. ↑ Nair, Swati (26 March 2026). "BSNL mobile towers expansion: 50,000–60,000 more sites planned after Rs 20,000 crore 4G rollout". www.goodreturns.in/.
    10. 1 2 "Govt starts process to delist MTNL for merger with BSNL". MSN. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
    11. ↑ "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.
    12. ↑ "Modi To Merge With Telstra And Spice". TelecomPaper. 22 June 2000. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
    13. ↑ "Idea acquires Escotel, largest deal in Indian telecom sector". Zee News. 15 January 2004. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
    14. ↑ 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.
    15. ↑ "Etisalat to shut India operations". The Times of India. 23 February 2012. Archived from the original on 4 April 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
    16. ↑ "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.
    17. ↑ "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.
    18. ↑ "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.
    19. ↑ 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.
    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. ↑ Pandey, Piyush (28 February 2018). "Aircel files for bankruptcy". The Hindu. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
    25. ↑ 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.
    26. 1 2 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.
    27. 1 2 Pandey, Navadha (12 January 2018). "NCLT approves Idea-Vodafone merger". LiveMint. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
    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. ↑ "Service Provider List" (PDF). Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
    31. 1 2 "Telecom Subscription Data as on 31st December, 2023" (PDF).
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