For a more comprehensive list of mobile phone operators, seeMobile country codes.
This is a list of the world's 25 largest terrestrial mobile phone network operators measured by number of subscriptions.
| Rank | Company | Main markets | Technology | Total subscriptions (inmillions) | Ownership (100% ownership unless stated otherwise) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Communications Corporation | 1003.9[1] (September 2024) | Government of the People's Republic of China (74.25%) Public stock (25.75%) | ||
| 2 | List
| 600[2] (September 2025) | Bharti Enterprises (66.57%) Singtel (32.15%) Google (1.28%) | ||
| 3 | List | 506[3] (September 2025) | Jio Platforms | ||
| 4 | 423.4[4] (September 2024) | China Telecommunications Corporation (State Owned) (70.89%) | |||
| 5 | 345.0[5] (September 2024) | China Unicom Limited (40.92%) China Netcom Group (29.49%) | |||
| 6 | List
| 310.0[6] (May 2024) | |||
| 7 | List
| 315.8[7] (September 2024) | Helu Slim (36.50%) Carlos Slim (6.84%) Public stock (56.66%) | ||
| 8 | List
| 305.3[8] (December 2024) | Public stock (77%) Government of France (23%) | ||
| 9 | 270.5[9] (May 2025) | ||||
| 10 | List
| 288.0[10] (September 2024) | Public stock (60.02%) Government Employees Pension Fund (25.33%) M1 (10.05%) | ||
| 11 | List
| 258.8[11] (September 2024) | Free float (68.1%) Federal Republic of Germany (31.9%) | ||
| 12 | 203.86[12] (July 2025) | Government of India (49.8%) Vodafone Group Plc (23.2%) Aditya Birla Group (9.85%) | |||
| 13 | List
| 162.5[13] (December 2023) | Public stock (54.91%) Government of Malaysia (45.09%) | ||
| 14 | 159.3[14] (December 2023) | Telkom Indonesia (65%) Singtel (35%) | |||
| 15 | Group Company PJSC (Etisalat) | List
| 159[15] (2021) | Emirates Investment Authority (60.03%) Public stock (39.97%) | |
| 16 | List
| 153.9[16] (December 2024) | Letterone Investment Holdings S.A. (45.5%) The Stichting Administratiekantoor Mobile Telecommunications Investor (7.9%) Lingotto Investment Management LLP (7.8%) Shah Capital Management Inc. (6.7%)[17] | ||
| 17 | 149.4[18] (Q3 2024) | Government of Qatar | |||
| 18 | 146[19] (December 2024) | Verizon Communications | |||
| 19 | 139.0[20] (September 2024) | Institutional Shares (59.28%) Vanguard Group Inc (14.12%) Blackrock Inc (11.49%)[21] | |||
| 20 | 138.31[22] (Q3 2024) | Government of Norway (53.97%) Public stock (41.74%) The Government Pension Fund of Norway (4.79%) | |||
| 21 | 110.0[23] (Q1 2022) | Government of Vietnam | |||
| 22 | 91.74[24] | Government of India | |||
| 23 | 91.4[25] (Q3 2025) | Nippon Telegraph and Telephone | |||
| 24 | 87.60[26] (Q3 2024) | Sistema (50.8%) | |||
| 25 | 77.26[27] (Q2 2024) | AF Telecom Holding LLC (56.32%) USM Telecom LLC (43.68%) |
This is a list of the world's five largest satellite phone network operators measured by number of subscribers.
| Rank | Operator | Technology | Subscribers (in millions) | Ownership |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iridium | ProprietaryTDMA | 0.824 (June 2016)[28] | |
| 2 | Globalstar | ProprietaryCDMA | 0.638 (March 2015)[29] | |
| 3 | Thuraya | ProprietaryFDMA/GSM | 0.260 (December 2007)[30] | Etisalat (28%) |
| 4 | Inmarsat | ProprietaryGSM | 0.254 (September 2009)[31] | |
| 5 | ACeS | Dual-modeSatellite/GSM | 0.020 (December 2007) |
For a more comprehensive list of mobile phone operators, seeMobile country codes.