List of telecom companies in India

Telecom operators in India
Company type	Various (public, private, government-owned)
Industry	Telecommunications
Area served	India
Products	Mobile services, DTH services, wireline services, broadband internet
Owner	Various (Tata Group, Airtel, Government of India, Jio Platforms, Vodafone Group, etc.)

Direct-to-home (DTH) providers

The Indian DTH sector consists of four subscription-based operators alongside a single free-to-air platform, DD Free Dish. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), as of 31 March 2025, the number of active paid DTH subscribers, excluding those of DD Free Dish, reached 56.92 million.

Operator	Market share	Ownership
Tata Play	31.99%	Tata Group (80%), Temasek (20%)
Airtel Digital TV	29.38%	Airtel (100%)
Dish TV	19.53%	Publicly Owned (95.96%)
Sun Direct	19.10%	Sun TV Network (80%), Astro (20%)
DD Free Dish		Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (100%)

Note

Subscriber figures for DD Free Dish are not included in TRAI’s performance statistics as it is a free-to-air service.

Multiple-system operators (MSOs)

As reported on 30 September 2024, India hosts 845 MSOs, some of which also hold Internet service provider licenses.

Leading MSOs by subscriber count:

Rank	Operator	Active Subscribers
1	GTPL Hathway Ltd	8,974,192
2	Hathway Digital Ltd	5,174,077
3	Siti Networks Ltd	4,810,710
4	Thamizhaga Cable TV Communication Pvt Ltd (TCCL)	3,803,451
5	Kerala Communicators Cable Ltd (KCCL)	3,648,628
6	Den Networks Ltd	3,252,764
7	NXT Digital Ltd (HITS)	2,439,067
8	KAL Cables	1,950,373
9	V K Digital Network Pvt. Ltd	1,560,585
10	Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Ltd (TACTV)	1,478,718
11	Fastway Transmissions Pvt Ltd	1,315,751
12	NXT Digital Ltd (CATV)	1,233,233

Wireless operators

By the end of June 2025, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India reported that wireless subscriptions in India totaled approximately 1170.88 million.

Mobile service providers

Over the last ten years, India’s mobile telecom market has experienced significant consolidation. The entry of Jio Platforms in 2016 marked a turning point by initially offering complimentary voice and data services, which sparked fierce competition on pricing. Jio rapidly gained a subscriber base exceeding 80 million. Following the merger between Vodafone India and Idea Cellular in 2018, Airtel India lost its position as market leader.

Current operators

Mobile operators active as of 30.06.2025
Operator (Founded)	Brands	Total Subscribers (million)	Active Subscribers (million)	Network Technologies	Ownership Structure	Additional Information
Airtel (1995)	Airtel	391.01	388.04	5G, 4G(VoLTE, VoWiFi), 2G	Bharti Enterprises (66.57%), Singtel (32.15%), Google (1.28%)	Bharti Hexacom Limited operates in Rajasthan and North-East India; Bharti Airtel holds a 70% stake in Bharti Hexacom with the remainder owned by TCIL (Government of India). Subscriber figures include Bharti Hexacom.
BSNL Mobile (2000)	BSNL	90.46	57.10	"4G(not officially launched), 3G, 2G"	Government of India (100%)	Does not provide direct services in Delhi or Mumbai; functions as virtual network operator only in Tamil Nadu.
'\'\'\'MTNL\\'\'\' (1986) 'MTNL' '0.31' '0.42' '3G, 2G' 'Government of India (100%)' 'Services limited to Delhi and Mumbai; undergoing merger with BSNL expected to conclude by 2025; network operations have been outsourced to BSNL since January 2021.' '-	'\'\'\'Jio\\'\'\' (2016) 'Jio' '477.02' '464.46' '5G(VoNR), 4G(VoLTE, VoWiFi)' 'Jio Platforms (100%)' 'Different entity from Reliance Communications.' '-	'\'\'\'Vodafone Idea\\'\'\' (2018) 'Vi' '204.22' '172.65' '5G(in seventeen priority circles), 4G(VoLTE with limited VoWiFi), 3G, 2G' 'Government of India (49%), Vodafone Group (16%), Aditya Birla Group (9.5%), Public Shareholding (25.5%)' 'In February 2023, under a telecom reform package the Government converted ₹16,133 crore (~US$1.9 billion) debt into equity becoming the largest shareholder.'

Inactive operators

By 30 July 2025, a total of 16 mobile service providers have discontinued their operations within India. Among these, Aircel holds the record for the longest duration of operation before shutting down, whereas the earliest to launch was Modi Telstra, recognized as the nation’s inaugural mobile service provider. The most recent operator to halt services was Reliance Communications, which ceased functioning following insolvency.

Key inactive mobile operators in India (as of 20 March 2025)
Operator	Commencement	Closure	Outcome
Modi Telstra	1990		Integrated into Axiata
Escotel	1996		Absorbed by Idea Cellular
Axiata	1992		Merged with Idea Cellular
S Tel	2012		Licence revoked by the Supreme Court of India
Etisalat	2010	2012	Licence annulled by the Supreme Court of India
Loop Mobile	1995	2014	Operations ended after licence expiration
Virgin Mobile / T24 Mobile	2009	2015	Consolidated into Tata DoCoMo
Singtel	2009	2017	Taken over by Reliance Communications
Videocon Telecom	2010	2016	Closed following spectrum acquisition by Airtel
MTS	2009	2017	Purchased by Reliance Communications
Aircel	1999	2018	Declared bankrupt
Telenor	2006	2018	Acquired by Airtel
Idea Cellular	2002	2018	Combined with Vodafone India to establish Vodafone Idea
Vodafone India	2011	2018	Merged with Idea Cellular forming Vodafone Idea
Tata DoCoMo	2009	2019	Taken over by Airtel
Reliance Communications	2004	2019	'Declared bankruptcy; assets purchased by Jio

Fixed-line providers

According to data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), as of 30 June 2025, the number of wireline subscribers in India stood at 47.49 million.

The subscriber counts for prominent companies are as follows:

Operator	Subscribers (lakh)	Parent Company
Jio	149.30	Jio Platforms
Tata Teleservices	109.48	Tata Group
Airtel	103.54	Bharti Airtel
BSNL	75.49	Government of India
MTNL	18.47	Government of India
Vi	7.68	Vodafone Group, Aditya Birla Group
APSFL	5.96	Andhra Pradesh Government
Quadrant	3.42	Videocon Telecom
Reliance Communications	0.97	Reliance Group
STPL	0.54	Sudhana Telecommunications Private Limited

Internet service providers (ISPs)

By 30 June 2025, India's broadband user base reached approximately 979.71 million, with wireless broadband subscribers numbering around 935.02 million and wireline broadband users totaling about 44.69 million.

As per figures dated 31 May 2025, the top five wireless broadband providers collectively controlled a market share of 99.98%:

Operator	Subscribers (million)	Ownership
JioFiber	483.13	Jio Platforms
Airtel	294.92	Bharti Airtel
''Vi'	127.39	Vodafone Group, Aditya Birla Group
''BSNL'	29.33	Government of India
'IBus Virtual Network Services Private Limited'	0.10

The leading five wired broadband providers as recorded on 30 June 2025 accounted for a combined market share of 70.23%:

Provider	Subscribers (million)	Ownership
'JioFiber'	13.93	Jio Platforms
''Airtel Xtream Fiber'	9.41	Bharti Airtel
''BSNL'	4.35	Government of India
''ACT'	2.33	India Value Fund Advisors, TA Associates
''KVBL'	1.37

Additional Prominent ISPs

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

Exclusively for Enterprise/Wholesale

Provider	Ownership
CtrlS Datacenters	CtrlS Labs
ERNET	Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
GAILTEL	Government of India
National Knowledge Network (restricted to educational institutions)	Government of India
PowerTel	Government of India
Tulip Telecom	Tulip Enterprises

Telecommunications Research & Development Companies

Name	Location of Headquarters	Organization Type
Beetel	Gurgaon	Private Sector
C-DOT	New Delhi	Public Sector Enterprise
HFCL	New Delhi	Private Sector
Sasken Technologies	Bangalore	Private Sector
Sterlite Technologies	Pune	Private Sector
Tejas Networks	Bangalore	Private Sector
United Telecoms Limited	Bangalore	Public Sector Enterprise

Notes

External links