Reliance Communications, Airtel Among World’s Top 20 Operators

[savramesh 37]

Business Line

Thursday, Jul 02, 2009

New Delhi, July 1 Reliance Communications and Bharti Airtel are the only Indian players to feature in the top 20 operators worldwide in terms of subscriber base, according to Wireless Intelligence.

Bharti Airtel is in the eighth spot with 93 million subscribers as at the end of first quarter of 2009, while RCom is at the 19th spot with 61.1 million subscribers.

New analysis from Wireless Intelligence reveals that the top 20 mobile operators ranked by total connections represented over 58 per cent of global mobile connections in the first quarter 2009. This collective footprint totals 2.4 billion connections and spans 118 of the 223 global markets tracked by Wireless Intelligence, which calls itself the global database of mobile market information.

China Mobile tops

In the first position is China Mobile, which accounts for 11.5 per cent of the total global connections across its fully-owned interests in China and Hong Kong. With a combined 479 million connections, China Mobile surpasses any other aggregated group in the global study by a factor of two.

Vodafone Group takes second position with 247 million connections across the 19 markets in which it holds a majority stake in an operator. Its most recent expansion comes via Ghana and India.

[srk006 21]

RCOM is having 80 million customers. How come the report shows it as 61.1?

[savramesh 37]

^^^

this is till first quarter of 2009 [till March], so the count should be correct.. am i right ?

[srk006 21]

yup you are right. As per AUSPI RCOM had 62million at the end of Mar09.

But then I remember reading some where RCOM achieved 80million customers.

Edited July 2, 2009 by srk006

[Greatest 55]

^^^ 80 million... thts 8 crores... wow..!!

[srk006 21]

^^ Bharti has 10Crore customers ... And we have 100 crore population. so long way to go

[me_saket 73]

Top 20 mobile operators across the globe gobble up 58 % of total connections in Q109

TelecomTiger Bureau | | 30 Jun 2009

Globally top 20 mobile operators notch up 58 % of the total mobile connections across the globe in Q109, reveals a new research by Wireless Intelligence.

Leading the race with highest number of mobile subscribers is the Chinese major, China Mobile accounting for 11.5 % of the global connections with a 479 million subscriber base. Following it is European major, Vodafone with subscriber base of 247 million.

The race for the third spot is heating up with close finish between Spain's Telefónica and Mexico's América Móvil. India’s Bharti Airtel finds itself ranked at number 8 while Reliance Communications is ranked at number 19.

Next-generation connections however comprise only 20 % of the total connections across the globe, says the study due to the fact that deployments in some key markets are at an early stage and also highlighting the expansion of the predominately European-based groups into the emerging markets.

"High penetration in mature markets is slowing the opportunity for organic growth as operators push for multiple connections per customer and secondary data connections," commented Will Croft, an analyst at Wireless Intelligence. "At the other end of the spectrum, the emerging markets still produce lucrative profit-making ventures and phenomenal growth. We are seeing more consolidation than ever before as mergers and acquisitions drive non-organic growth in the mature markets, while expansion into the emerging markets remains a key priority for the larger operator groups."

The research was conducted spanning 2.4 billion connections in 118 out of the total 223 global markets.

http://www.telecomtiger.com/Wireless_fulls...mp;section=S216

[anshu_s09 18]

yes but still there is a long gap between baharti and china mobile

[srk006 21]

^^ The situation is different in China. I believe china has just 2 major mobile operators, where as India has 6-10 per circle. Hence 100/200 million subscribers for an operator will be a great achievement.

Edited July 2, 2009 by srk006

[anshu_s09 18]

Yes there are 2 operators

China Mobile &

China Unicom

and the population of china is also much more than india