Mobile Monsters: The World’s Biggest Operators

Earlier this year, China Mobile hit one billion mobile subscriptions.

In a country of more than 1.4 billion people, this may not seem like a remarkable milestone. However, the next largest national cellco, Reliance Jio in India, has less than half of this number—around 476 million subscriptions as of mid-2024.

Let’s take a closer look at China Mobile and the other giant operators.

China Mobile’s Rapid Growth

Although the years of its strongest growth are long gone, China Mobile continues to add to its subscription total quarter-on-quarter.

After launching its first services in 1997, the state-backed company didn't hit 200 million subscriptions until Q4 2004. As take-up quickened, it reached 400 million subscriptions in Q2 2008 and 600 million by Q1 2011.

Dominant Position
Chinese Mobile Market Subscription Growth 2004-2024

Growth began to slow as the market became increasingly saturated. After China Mobile reached the 800 million milestone in Q4 2014, it took nearly another decade to hit one billion in Q2 2024.

3G and 4G

China Mobile offers 3G, 4G, and 5G services alongside three domestic rivals: China Telecom, China Unicom, and the most recent market entrant, China Broadnet.

Although initially in favor of acquiring a 3G license based on W-CDMA technology, in March 2007, China Mobile instead backed the home-grown TD-SCDMA platform and started trials of the technology in April 2008. It was granted a full TD-SCDMA concession in January 2009, launching commercial services the same month.

However, using the TD-SCDMA standard for its 3G networks hamstrung the cellco’s progress. While the W-CDMA and CDMA2000 systems used by Unicom and Telecom saw widespread international adoption, the homegrown equivalent failed to catch on elsewhere, leaving China Mobile to prop up the technology’s ecosystem single-handedly.

Almost immediately after its 3G launch, China Mobile began working on its 4G solution, starting trials of TD-LTE in 2010. Learning from past mistakes, China Mobile was one of the most prominent advocates of the TD-LTE standard over alternative 4G platforms, and the cellco helped establish the Global TD-LTE Initiative to coordinate international cooperation among providers and vendors.

China Mobile finally received its TD-LTE license in early December 2013, paving the way for the launch of commercial services in 16 cities later that month. In April 2018, it was permitted to provide FDD-LTE services and the cellco refarmed frequencies in the 1800MHz band—previously used for its 2G system—for the network.

By the end of 2014, 4G subscriptions comprised 11.2% of China Mobile’s mobile accounts, growing to 63.0% two years later and 74.9% by December 2018.

5G’s Strong Start

As with its approach to 4G, China Mobile was highly involved in developing 5G technologies, working alongside vendors and technical standards and specifications body 3GPP from early on.

After being awarded a 5G operating license in June 2019, China Mobile was able to offer commercial services with the frequencies it was assigned in the 2.5GHz and 4.7GHz bands on a trial basis in December 2018. The cellco launched full 5G services in 50 cities on October 31, 2019.

By the end of 2023, China Mobile’s 5G network spanned some 1.94 million 5G base stations, up from 1.29 million a year earlier, 730,000 in 2021, and 390,000 at the end of 2020. It aims to increase that figure to 2.35 million by end-2024.

By the end of 2023, China Mobile’s 5G network spanned some 1.94 million 5G base stations, up from 1.29 million a year earlier, 730,000 in 2021, and 390,000 at the end of 2020. It aims to increase that figure to 2.35 million by end-2024.

In subscription terms, China Mobile claimed 514 million active 5G network users by mid-2024, up from 393 million 12 months earlier. 5G now makes up more than half of its subscription base.

Average monthly data usage by 5G customers in 2023 was 25 GB, representing a slight increase from 24.7 GB a year earlier and 22 GB in 2021. Meanwhile, ARPU for the same accounts decreased slightly to CNY78.2 ($11) from CNY81.5 in 2022.

By contrast, data usage and ARPU for the cellco’s total mobile subscription base were 15.9GB (14.1GB in 2022) and CNY49.3 (CNY49.0), respectively.

The Rest of the Top 20

Two of China Mobile’s domestic competitors—China Telecom and China Unicom—sit in the third and fifth positions, respectively, in a ranking of the world’s largest wireless operators. Telecom claimed 417 million subscriptions by mid-2024, ahead of Unicom with around 339 million.

Sticking with Asia, operators from India make up the other three players in the top six, with the aforementioned Reliance Jio ahead of Bharti Airtel (389 million subscriptions) and Vi (217 million).

Mobile Ranking
Top 20 Largest Cellcos Worldwide, June 2024

After Telkomsel of Indonesia in the seventh spot are three cellcos from the U.S. The largest is T-Mobile (146 million subscriptions at the end of June 2024), then Verizon Wireless (144 million) and AT&T (115 million).

Latin America contributes two operators to the top 20—namely, Vivo of Brazil and Telcel of Mexico. There are also two players representing Africa: MTN Nigeria in the 17th spot and Ethio Telecom from Ethiopia in 19th.

Meanwhile, the Middle East and Europe each claim one entry—Mobile Communication Company of Iran (MCI) and MTS in Russia.

Combined, the top 20 mobile operators in the world accounted for almost half (48%) of all subscriptions globally (8.8 billion) as of mid-2024.

Combined, the top 20 mobile operators in the world accounted for almost half (48%) of all subscriptions globally (8.8 billion) as of mid-2024.

More information on mobile markets worldwide can be found in TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database.