Mobile Telecommunication Service Providers in India

In September 2004, the numbers of mobile phone connections have crossed fixed-line connections. Major Mobile Telecommunication Service Providers in India are Airtel, Reliance Infocomm, Vodafone, Idea cellular and BSNL/MTNL.

Today two types of mobile phone service providers operate in the Indian market:

* Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)

* Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

Three types of service providers exist in the Indian telecommunication sector:

* State owned companies like - Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL)

* Private Indian owned companies like - Reliance Infocomm and Tata Teleservices

* Foreign invested companies like - Vodafone Essar, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, BPL Mobile, Spice Communications etc.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is popularly known as BSNL. It operates under the guardianship of the Ministry of Communication, and Department of Telecommunication, Government of India. BSNL is world's seventh largest telecommunications company, with a huge bouquet of telecommunications services. The services offered by BSNL includes wireline, CDMA mobile, GSM Mobile, Internet, broadband, carrier service, MPLS-VPN, VSAT, VoIP services, IN Services etc.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL)

MTNL is an India-based telecommunication service providing company. MTNL was established in 1986. It started its operations by providing landline telephony. MTNL launched GSM Cellular Mobile Service in the two metro cities of Delhi and Mumbai under the brand name ‘Dolphin’ in 2001. MTNL provides various value added services like voice mail service, short message service, cell broadcast service, call hold, multi-party conference, closed user group, call divert and call waiting, MMS, GPRS, WAP etc.

Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel is one of the topmost companies in the telecom sector in India and is under the Bharti Enterprises Group. Airtel was ranked as the best performance company in the whole world by the Business Week magazine in 2007. It is India’s largest private telecom service provider and has presence in all the 23 telecom circles. Its operations are based upon GSM technology and it has also forayed into broadband and fixed line telephone services.

Vodafone Essar

Vodafone Essar started its operations in India in 1994 and is under the Vodafone Group. The company Vodafone Essar Limited has become one of the leading companies in the telecom sector in India due to its high standard of services that it provides to its customers. Vodafone is world’s leading telecom company and has operations in several countries.

Reliance Communications

Reliance Communications started its operations in 1999 and is under the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group of companies. It was formerly known as Reliance Infocomm and commenced its operation on December 28, 2002. The company has been set up with the aim of providing communication and information to people at affordable price.