List of telecom companies in India


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

There are 4 pay-for-use DTH service providers and one free-to-air service provider in India.
As of 31.03.2025, there are 56.92 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.
OperatorMarket shareOwnership
Tata Play31.99%Tata Group
Temasek
Airtel Digital TV16.08%Airtel

Dish TV		32.83%Publicly Owned
Sun Direct19.10%Sun TV Network
Astro
DD Free DishMinistry of Information and Broadcasting

Notes
  • DD free dish is a free-to-air service hence their subscriber data is not shown in the TRAI performance report.

Multiple-system operators (MSOs)

As of 30 September 2024, there are 845 MSOs.
List of top MSOs by subscribers
NoOperatorTotal Active Subscriber Base
1GTPL Hathway Ltd89,74,192
2Hathway Digital Ltd51,74,077
3Siti Networks Ltd48,10,710
4Thamizhaga Cable TV Communication Pvt Ltd. 38,03,451
5Kerala Communicators Cable Ltd 36,48,628
6Den Networks Ltd32,52,764
7NXT Digital Ltd 24,39,067
8KAL Cables19,50,373
9V K Digital Network Pvt. Ltd15,60,585
10Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Ltd 14,78,718
11Fastway Transmissions Pvt Ltd13,15,751
12NXT Digital Ltd 12,33,233

Wireless operators

As of 30.11.2025 there are around 1187.48 million wireless subscribers in India according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

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 8 crore 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

Operator
BrandsTotal Subscribers Active Subscribers TechnologiesOwnershipNotes
Jio Jio486.09477.095G, 4G Jio Platforms Not to be confused with Reliance Communications.
Airtel Airtel394.88390.175G, 4G, 2GBharti Enterprises
Singtel
Google 		The 'airtel' brand is operated by Bharti Hexacom Limited in Rajasthan and North-East India. Bharti Airtel owns 70% of Bharti Hexacom, while TCIL owns the remaining 30%.
Subscriber count and active users include Bharti Hexacom.
Vi Vi199.71168.955G, 4G, 2GGovernment of India
Vodafone Group
Aditya Birla Group
Public Shareholding 		In February 2023, the Government of India converted ₹16,133 crore debt owed to it by the operator into equity, after the company opted for the option given to it under a 'telecom reforms package'.
BSNL BSNL92.9654.364G,3G,2GGovernment of India BSNL operates only in Tamil Nadu. BSNL is testing VoWifi services.

Defunct operators

As of 31 December 2025, 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.
OperatorStarted operationsCeased operationsFate
Modi Telstra19952000Merged into Axiata
Escotel19962004Merged into Idea Cellular
S Tel20082012Licence cancelled by the Supreme Court of India
Etisalat20102012Licence cancelled by the Supreme Court of India
Loop Mobile19952014Ceased operations after expiration of licence
Virgin Mobile / T24 Mobile20092015Merged into Tata DoCoMo
Axiata19952016Merged into Idea Cellular
Videocon Telecom20102016Shut down following sale of spectrum to Airtel
Singtel20092017Acquired by Reliance Communications
MTS20092017Acquired by Reliance Communications
Aircel19992018Bankrupt
Telenor20062018Acquired by Airtel
Idea Cellular20022018Merged with Vodafone India to form Vodafone Idea
Vodafone India20112018Merged with Idea Cellular to form Vodafone Idea
Tata DoCoMo20092019Acquired by Airtel
Reliance Communications20042019Declared bankruptcy, subsequently acquired by Jio
MTNL19862025Merged into BSNL

Wireline operators

Fixed-line operators

As of 30.11.2025, there are 47.05 million wireline subscribers in India according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
Number of suscribers of all the 10 companies are tabulated as follows:
OperatorSubscribers Ownership
Jio145.47Jio Platforms
Tata Teleservices110.30Tata Group
Airtel107.66Bharti Airtel
BSNL75.15Government of India
MTNL15.14Government of India
Vi8.28Vodafone Group
Aditya Birla Group
APSFL3.63Andhra Pradesh Government
Quadrant3.35Videocon Telecom
Reliance Communications0.95Reliance Group
STPL0.58Sudhana Telecommunications Private Limited

Internet service providers (ISPs)

Internet service providers offering broadband services. The total number of broadband subscribers stood at 1003.65 million as of 30.11.2025. Total Wireless broadband subscribers stood at 958.54 million and wireline broadband subscribers stood at 45.11 million.
As of 30.11.2025, top five Wireless Broadband Service providers which have market share of 99.99% is as follows:
OperatorSubscribers Ownership
Jio496.92Jio Platforms
Airtel304.21Bharti Airtel
Vi127.74Vodafone Group
Aditya Birla Group
BSNL29.40Government of India
IBus Virtual Network Services Private Limited0.12

The following table shows the top 5 wired broadband service providers in India by total subscriber base as of 30.11.2025 which hold market share of 70.68%

Telecom R&D firms

NameHeadquartersType
BeetelGurugramPrivate
C-DOTNew DelhiState-owned enterprise
HFCLGurugramPrivate
Sasken TechnologiesBengaluruPrivate
Sterlite TechnologiesPunePrivate
Tejas NetworksBengaluruPrivate
United Telecoms LimitedBengaluruState-owned enterprise