Due to COVID-19 forcing many companies to rearrange their global operations, these figures only represent a growth rate of 2.6% over the previous year. However, the industry is expected to recover and maintain an annual growth rate of 6% from 2021 through 2025.
The main factor driving this growth is the increased number of people relying on mobile payments to pay for services and goods, as well as mobile wallets such as Apple Pay becoming a standard feature on many cell phones.
In this article, we’ll discuss the top 15 cell phone companies in the world. By examining their products and operations, perhaps you’ll gain a better understanding of where the industry is headed.
China Telecom. Headquarters: Beijing, China
Stock ticker: CHA
Market cap: $175.62 billion
2021 Revenue: $439.55 billion
Net income: $2.8 billion
China Telecom is the publicly-listed arm of the state-owned China Telecommunications Corporation.
The company providers telecommunications services, such as internet access and mobile telephony to over 200 million customers worldwide. Over 80% of these customers reside in China.
China Telecom entered a joint venture in 2015 with China Mobile and China Unicom to form China Tower, making them collectively the largest telecommunications provider in the country.
China Tower broke off as its own separately listed company in 2018, but the three companies still hold a considerable share in the business.
China Telecom acquired a 4G LTE license from the Macau S.A.R authority and is currently one of the largest telecommunications providers in the country.
The company is also one of the largest telecommunications network operators in Europe through its subsidiary China Telecom Europe.
ATT Headquarters: Dallas, Texas
Stock ticker: T
Market cap: $204.4 billion
2021 Revenue: $153.2 billion
Net income: $11.1 billion
ATT is the world’s largest telecommunications company and mobile service provider.
The company generates revenue through its vast portfolio of products. In addition to their main operations of providing mobile telephone services, ATT’s other notable activities include:
Maintaining legacy fixed-line telephone services
Selling satellite and cable TV packages
Managing numerous radio and broadcasting programs
Providing broadband and internet services
The company is a multinational conglomerate that owns many subsidiaries that are considered industry giants in their own right.
One example is WarnerMedia, a mass media conglomerate that ATT acquired in 2018.
ATT owns 10 of the 22 original companies that were created when the United States Department of Justice broke up Bell System in 1984.
Although ATT is headquartered in the United States, it also operates in other major countries through different regional offices.
For example, the company maintains large offices in Hong Kong to provide its services across the Asia Pacific.
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Verizon Headquarters: New York City, New York
Stock ticker: VZ
Market cap: $237 billion
2021 Revenue: $133.613 billion
Net Income: $18.3 million
Verizon is another multinational telecommunications conglomerate that formed after the United States Government broke up Bell System.
Originally called Bell Atlantic, Verizon rebranded itself under its current name after it entered into a merger valued at $64.7 billion with telephone giant GTE in 2000.
The company’s main sources of revenue are its mobile telephone, landline, and cable television business segments. Verizon also owns large subsidiaries involved in industries such as:
Broadband. Most of Verizon’s broadband operations involve maintaining legacy services. However, they do also offer new packages for those interested.
Digital Television. Verizon offers many digital television packages to consumers.
One major example is Verizon Fios, a packaged bundle that includes internet access, digital television services, and phone service.
Digital Media. Verizon Digital Media Services (VDMS) is a content delivery network for television and streaming services.
Internet. ATT acquired AOL in 2015 and the core internet business segment of Yahoo! during the following year.
The mobile communications arm of Verizon’s business, Verizon Wireless, is the United States’ second-largest wireless communications service provider after ATT.
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Nippon Telegraph Telephone Corp. Headquarters: Chiyoda, Japan
Stock ticker: NTTYY
Market cap: $96.8 billion
2021 Revenue: $112.273 billion
Net Income: $7.9 billion
Nippon Telegraph Telephone, also known as NTT, is not just the third-largest telecommunications company in the world but the fifth-largest company overall in Japan.
The company was formed by the Japanese state in 1952 as a bid to compete against the industry monopoly that ATT held over the country. It was later privatized in 1985 and opened to public investment.
One-third of the company’s shares are still owned by the Japanese government pursuant to the NTT law, which seeks to ensure proper provision of telecommunications services across the country.
NTT operates in many different industries through its numerous subsidiaries, namely:
Mobile communications. Docomo, a subsidiary of NTT, is the largest mobile phone operator in Japan.
The company’s products offer all the typical mobile services, such as talk, message, video chat, and internet.
They also still sell paging and PHS services.
Long-distance communications. NTT owns NTT Communications, an international digital communications company that operates over 190 countries and regions.
Their main products are API gateways, Internet of Things (IoT) platforms, and machine-to-machine networks.
Information Security. NTT Security sends end-to-end security infrastructure and operations management services to other businesses.
Deutsche Telekom Headquarters: Bonn, Germany
Stock ticker: DTEGY
Market cap: $87.4 billion
2021 Revenue: $108.8 billion
Net income: $3.5 billion
Also called DT, Deutsche Telekom AG is the largest telecommunications provider in all of Europe.
The company began as the state-owned monopoly Deutsche Bundespost and assumed its current name upon its privatization in 1995.
DT owns many subsidiaries worldwide. Most are involved in telephone services and communication, but some are in other industries such as IT services and digital media.
The most famous brand that exists under DT’s umbrella is perhaps T-Mobile.
Other large telecommunications companies that DT owns include:
Slovak Telekom. Largest telecommunications provider in Slovakia.
Magyar Telekom. Magyar Telekom is not only the largest telecommunications provider in Hungary, but also holds majority shares in Hrvatski Telekom and Makedonski Telekom.
Respectively, these two companies are the largest telephone service companies in Croatia and North Macedonia.
OTE. Is not only the largest telecommunications company in Greece but also the largest tech company in the country overall.
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T-Mobile US Headquarters: Santa Clara, California
Stock ticker: TTM
Market cap: $159.7 billion
2021 Revenue: $80.118 billion
Net income: $3.1 billion
Servicing over 100 million subscribers, T-Mobile is the third-largest wireless carrier in the United States.
The company’s main products are their data and voice services offered under the “Metro by T-Mobile” and T-Mobile brands. The former encompasses the former networks of Metro PCS, which T-Mobile acquired through a reverse merger in 2013.
T-Mobile’s other main offering is their host network services for mobile virtual network operators.
Recently in 2020, T-Mobile completed a merger with Sprint Corporation that made them the whole owner of the company. T-Mobile took over their existing networks, contracts, and phased out the Sprint brand by August of the same year.
The company is currently investing heavily in 5G technology. In 2019, T-Mobile and Ericsson completed their first 71 data tests using the Snapdragon X55 modem.
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Vodafone Group PLC. Headquarters: England, United Kingdom
Stock ticker: VOD
Market cap: $46.1 billion
2021 Revenue: $51.169 billion
Net income: $2.9 billion
Vodafone is a multinational telecommunications company that operates primarily in Europe, Asia, Oceania, and Africa.
The company also owns and manages networks in 22 countries and is involved with partner networks in an additional 48 countries.
In addition to providing typical carrier services to broad consumers such as text, call, and data, Vodafone also operates a separate Vodafone Global Enterprise division that provides customized telecommunications solutions to corporate clients.
The company also has its hands in industries such as:
Television
Internet of Things (IoT)
Public and private cloud
IT Security
Cloud-based applications
Orange S.A. Headquarters: Paris, France
Stock ticker: ORAN
Market cap: $32.7 billion
2021 Revenue: $50.308 billion
Net income: $3.2 million
With 266 million international customers, Orange S.A. is the world’s tenth-largest mobile network operator and the fourth-largest in Europe.
The company was formerly known as France Telecom before it acquired Microtel Communications and rebranded itself as “Orange” to match its main brand of the same name.
The Orange brand offers four main telecommunications services to customers:
Mobile phone telephony
Fixed-line telephone
Broadband internet
IPTV, mainly in France and Spain
Orange S.A. employs 158,000 workers worldwide, 89,000 of whom reside in France.
KDDI. Headquarters: Hangzhou, China
Stock ticker: KDDIY
Market cap: $70.3 billion
2021 Revenue: $49.938 billion
Net income: $6.2 billion
KDDI is a Japanese telecommunications company formed in 2000 as a result of a merger between KDD, DDI, and IDO Corp.
The company’s main business segment is its “au by KDDI” brand, which provides mobile cellular and ISP network services across Japan.
KDDI also owns the “au Hikari by KDDI” brand, which offers long-distance and international voice and data services, as well as fiber-to-home.
Through “au by KDDI,” KDDI began offering 5G service in 2020 under the “UNLIMITED WORLD au 5G” campaign.
However, KDDI still retains the partnership it established with Ericsson in 2015 to research and continuously improve its 5G services.
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Telefonica S.A. Headquarters: Madrid, Spain
Stock ticker: TEF
Market cap: $24.2 billion
2021 Revenue: $46.469 billion
Net income: $505.3 million
Telefonica is a multinational diversified and integrated telecommunications conglomerate.
The company operates mostly in Europe and the Americas, providing key services such as:
Fixed and mobile telephony
Subscription television
Broadband internet
Telefonica offers the largest fiber-to-home network in all of Europe.
The company also operates O2 and Movistar, the two largest phone and broadband providers in Spain.
As of early 2021, Telefonica is currently discussing a possible merger with Liberty Global between their two respective brands, O2 and Virgin Media.
The merger would make the resulting company the second-largest telecommunications provider in the United Kingdom after BT Group.
A few other major brands that Telefonica owns are Vivo and CTC, which are respectively the largest telecommunications companies in Brazil and Chile.
China United Network Communications Group. Headquarters: Beijing, China
Stock ticker: CHU
Market cap: $135.55 billion
Revenue: $44 billion
Net income: $1.62 billion
Commonly called China Unicum or simply CUniq, China United Network Communications Group is the fourth-largest cellular service provider in the world by subscriber count.
The company is majority state-owned, with public shareholders owning only 40% of the company’s equity.
China Unicom’s main product offerings are its GSM mobile network and IP telephony.
The company also provides:
Long-distance communication services
Local calling and paging
Data communication
Internet services
China Unicom partnered with LuHan in 2020 to create the “FuLu Companion Card,” a declaration of their cooperative efforts to further develop 5G technology.
The two companies in tandem plan to bring exclusive 5G-related benefits to customers of either company.
America Movil SAB de CV. Headquarters: Mexico City, Mexico
Stock ticker: AMX
Market cap: $49 billion
2021 Revenue: $41.564 billion
Net income: $3.4 billion
America Movil is the largest mobile operator in Mexico by equity subscribers and the seventh-largest in the world.
As of early 2021, the company currently has 290 million wireless subscribers and 87 million fixed revenue-generating units. Its fiber-optic cables run over 290,000 kilometres, making it the largest network of its kind in the world.
America Movil’s largest subsidiary is Telcel, which provides wireless communications services such as talk, data, and text to 66.9 million subscribers, or 77.2% of the entire market.
The company’s mobile networks cover over 63% of Mexico’s entire geographic area and 90% of the country’s population.
America Movil also operates in the United States through its subsidiary TracFone Wireless, which manages numerous brands that are all among the nation’s leading prepaid mobile service providers.
Telstra. Headquarters: Victoria, Australia
Stock ticker: TLS
Market cap: $29 billion
2021 Revenue: $21.56 billion
Net income: $1.4 billion
Telstra is an Australian telecommunications giant with over 20 million subscribers as of early 2021.
The company originally formed in 1901 as a state-owned entity, before going public on the ASX in 1997.
Telstra completed its full privatization process in 2011, and is currently the most widely-held company listed on the ASX.
The company’s main products and services include:
Mobile phone services such as talk, text, and data
Subscription television packages and shows
Wholesale and retail internet access
Telstra is currently building and developing its 3500 MHz 5G mobile network across Australia.
BT Group. Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
Stock ticker: BT
Market cap: $16.3 billion
2021 Revenue: $20.85 billion
Net income: $2.97 billion
BT Group is a multinational telecommunications company that operates in over 180 countries.
The company is the largest provider of mobile services, broadband, and fixed-line telephony in the United Kingdom, with over 18 million customers. It achieved this status after acquiring the previous industry leader EE in April 2016.
Some of BT Group’s other major products include IT services and subscription television packages.
KT Corporation. Headquarters: Seongnam, South Korea
Stock ticker: KT
Market cap: $5.62 billion
2021 Revenue: $18.88 billion
Net income: $587 million
Formerly known as Korea Telecom, KT Corporation is the largest telecommunications company in South Korea.
The company was originally formed in 1981 as a public utility before it was eventually privatized and publicly-listed in late 1998. The state-owned National Pension Service still retains a 12.19% stake in KT.
KT was also the country’s first telecommunications company and is currently the largest in the industry. It serves over 90% of South Korea’s fixed-line telephone users and about 45% of the country’s high-speed internet users.
The company also owns the PCS carrier KTF, the largest mobile services provider in South Korea. The subsidiary offers talk, text, and data, and invented the first customized ring-back tones.
