India's mobile services sector is one of the hottest telecom markets in the world due to its existing and potential size, and its rapid rate of growth. At the end of 2007, there were nearly 234 million mobile subscribers, an increase of more than 50 percent from the end of 2006. At the end of 2005, India had about 76 million mobile users. (See Top 10 Emerging Mobile Markets .)

And the potential in India is such that the likes of Vodafone are willing to spend billions to buy a slice of the action. (See Vodafone Wins Battle to Buy Essar and Vodafone Completes Buy.)

It also means there are rich pickings for telecom vendors (especially as 3G networks are yet to be built), though while the size of some contracts are eye-watering, profit margins can be wafer-thin. (See BSNL Awards $1.3B GSM Contract, Nokia-Siemens Balks at BSNL Contract, Reliance Plans $7B GSM Build-Out, and India on Edge Over 3G.)

The cost of trying to compete across a country of nearly 3.3 million square kilometers (about one third the land mass of the U.S.) has led to infrastructure-sharing arrangements between the carriers. (See Indian Operators in Sharing Mood, Reliance Infratel Files for IPO, and Bharti Infratel Gets $250M.)

So which operators dominate the market? The table below lists India's wireless operators, subscriber numbers, and areas of coverage:

Wireless Operators*

Operator	Dominant Network Technology	Subscribers (in millions)	Service coverage by circles**
Bharti Airtel	GSM	57.42	All circles
Vodafone Essar	GSM	41.15	All metro, A, and B circles except Madhya Pradesh
BSNL	GSM	37.99	All circles except Mumbai and New Delhi
Reliance Communications	CDMA	37.04	All circles except Assam and Northeast
Tata Teleservices	CDMA	22.54	All circles except Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, and North East
IDEA Cellular	GSM	21.95	New Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and all B circles except Punjab and West Bengal
Aircel	GSM	9.93	Chennai, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and all C circles
Reliance Telecom	GSM	6.00	Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and all C circles except Jammu & Kashmir
Spice Telecom	GSM	3.94	Karnataka and Punjab
MTNL	GSM	3.28	Mumbai and New Delhi
BPL Mobile	GSM	1.26	Mumbai
HFCL Infotel	CDMA	0.27	Punjab
Shyam Telelink	CDMA	0.10	Rajasthan
* As of Jan. 31, 2008 ** See page 4 of this report for a guide to India's circles

Since 2006, the government's telecom policy has lumped wireless local loop (WLL) subscribers in with mobile subscribers.