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 (DD Free Dish) in India.1
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 (TRAI).
| Operator | Market share | Ownership |
|---|---|---|
| Tata Play | 31.99% | Tata Group (80%)Temasek (20%) |
| Airtel Digital TV | 29.38% | Airtel (100%) |
| 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%) |
Notes
- DD free dish is a free-to-air service hence their subscriber data is not shown in the TRAI performance report.2
Multiple-system operators (MSOs)
See also: List of cable television companies § India
As of 30 September 2024, there are 845 MSOs (some also have an ISP license).3
List of top MSOs by subscribers
| No | Operator | Total Active Subscriber Base4 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | GTPL Hathway Ltd | 89,74,192 |
| 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
As of 31.05.2025 there are around 1168.42 million wireless subscribers in India according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).5
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 (80 million). 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
List of active mobile operators in the country (as on 30.04.2025)| Operator (Estd.) | Brands | Total Subscribers (million) | Active Subscribers (million) | Technologies | Ownership | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airtel (1995) | Airtel | 390.25 | 386.84 | 5G, 4G(VoLTE, VoWiFi), 2G | Bharti Enterprises (66.57) | 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%.6 Subscriber count and active users include Bharti Hexacom. |
| BSNL Mobile (2000) | BSNL | 90.77 | 57.85 | 5G, 4G, 3G, 2G | Government of India (100%) | BSNL does not directly operate in Delhi and Mumbai.7 BSNL (VNO's) operates only in Tamil Nadu. |
| MTNL (1986) | MTNL | 0.45 | 0.45 | 3G, 2G8 | Government of India (100%) | MTNL only operates in Delhi and Mumbai.9 MTNL is in the process of being merged with BSNL. The merger is expected to be completed by 2025.10 Since January 2021, the operations of MTNL's networks have been outsourced to BSNL.11 |
| Jio (2016) | Jio | 475.11 | 462.04 | 5G(VoNR), 4G(VoLTE,VoWiFi) | Jio Platforms (100%) | Not to be confused with Reliance Communications. |
| Vodafone Idea (2018) | Vi | 204.44 | 172.87 | 5G(in 17 priority circles only), 4G(VoLTE, limited VoWiFi), 3G, 2G12 | Government of India (48.99%)Vodafone Group (16.07%)Aditya Birla Group (09.50%)Public Shareholding (25.44%) | 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'.13 |
Defunct operators
As of 1 July 2025, 16 mobile operators have ceased operations in India. The longest operating defunct operator is Aircel , while the oldest is Modi-Telstra14 - which was also the first mobile operator in the country.15 Most recently, Reliance Communications ceased operations citing bankruptcy.16
List of notable mobile operators that provided services in the country (as on 20 March 2025)| Operator | Started operations | Ceased operations | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modi Telstra | 199017 | Merged into Axiata18 | |
| Escotel | 1996 | Merged into Idea Cellular19 | |
| Axiata | 1992 | Merged into Idea Cellular20 | |
| S Tel | 2012 | Licence cancelled by the Supreme Court of India | |
| Etisalat | 201021 | 2012 | Licence cancelled by the Supreme Court of India22 |
| Loop Mobile | 1995 | 2014 | Ceased operations after expiration of licence23 |
| Virgin Mobile / T24 Mobile | 200924 | 2015 | Merged into Tata DoCoMo 25 |
| Singtel | 2009 | 2017 | Acquired by Reliance Communications |
| Videocon Telecom | 201026 | 2016 | Shut down following sale of spectrum to Airtel2728 |
| MTS | 2009 | 2017 | Acquired by Reliance Communications29 |
| Aircel | 1999 | 2018 | Bankrupt30 |
| Telenor | 2006 | 2018 | Acquired by Airtel31 |
| Idea Cellular | 2002 | 2018 | Merged with Vodafone India to form Vodafone Idea3233 |
| Vodafone India | 2011 | 2018 | Merged with Idea Cellular to form Vodafone Idea3435 |
| Tata DoCoMo | 2009 | 2019 | Acquired by Airtel36 |
| Reliance Communications | 2004 | 2019 | Declared bankruptcy, subsequently acquired by Jio37 |
Wireline operators
Fixed-line operators
As of 31.05.2025, there are 44.09 million wireline subscribers in India according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).38
Number of suscribers of all the 10 companies are tabulated as follows:
| Operator | Subscribers39 (lakh) | Ownership |
|---|---|---|
| Jio | 144.76 | Jio Platforms |
| Airtel | 103.04 | Bharti Airtel |
| BSNL | 75.73 | Government of India |
| Tata Teleservices | 24.43 | Tata Group |
| MTNL | 19.35 | Government of India |
| Vi | 8.21 | Vodafone Group |
| APSFL | 6.12 | Andhra Pradesh Government |
| Quadrant | 3.44 | Videocon Telecom |
| Reliance Communications | 0.98 | Reliance Group |
| STPL | 0.54 | Sudhana Telecommunications Private Limited |
Internet service providers (ISPs)
Internet service providers (ISPs) offering broadband (wired + wireless) services. The total number of broadband subscribers stood at 974.87 million as of 31.05.2025.4041 Total Wireless broadband subscribers stood at 901.68 million and wireline broadband subscribers stood at 41.41 million.42
As of 31.05.2025, top five Wireless Broadband Service providers which have market share of 99.98% is as follows:
| Operator | Subscribers43 (million) | Ownership |
|---|---|---|
| JioFiber | 480.96 | Jio Platforms |
| Airtel | 292.89 | Bharti Airtel |
| Vi | 126.67 | Vodafone Group |
| BSNL | 29.99 | Government of India |
| IBus Virtual Network Services Private Limited | 0.09 |
The following table shows the top 5 wired broadband service providers in India by total subscriber base as of 31.05.2025 which hold market share of 69.74%
| Provider | Subscribers44 (million) | Ownership |
|---|---|---|
| JioFiber | 13.51 | Jio Platforms |
| Airtel | 9.26 | Bharti Airtel |
| BSNL | 4.32 | Government of India |
| ACT | 2.32 | India Value Fund Advisors |
| KVBL | 1.34 |
Other notable ISPs
| 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 Play | Tata Group (70%) The Walt Disney Company India (30%) |
| Excitel |
For enterprise/wholesale only
| 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
| 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 |
See also
- Telecommunications in India
- List of mobile network operators
- Direct-to-home television in India
- List of mobile network operators of the Asia Pacific region
- Internet in India
Notes
External links
- ISP market share grouped by ASNs used (APNIC report)
- List of ASNs assigned to India
- List of Telecom Service Providers on TRAI website
- Department of Telecommunications, Government of India
- Updates on telecom[dead link]
- Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
- Cellular Operators Association of India
- List of Telecom Service Providers on TRAI website
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