A mobile phone operator, wireless provider, or carrier is a mobile telecommunications company that provides wireless Internet GSM services for mobile device users. The operator gives a SIM card to the customer who inserts it into the mobile device to gain access to the service.
There are two types of mobile operators:
a mobile network operator (MNO) which owns the underlying network and spectrum assets required to run the service.
a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) which buys wholesale service from an MNO and sells on to its own customers.
As of May 2016[update] (and for years before), the world's largest individual mobile operator by subscribers is China Mobile with over 835 million mobile subscribers.[1][2] Over 50 mobile operators have over 10 million subscribers each, and over 150 mobile operators had at least one million subscribers by the end of 2009.[3] In February 2010, there were 4.6 billion mobile subscribers, a number that is estimated to grow. Total mobile‐cellular subscriptions reached almost 6 billion by end 2011, corresponding to a global penetration of 86%
.
^Operation Data – Customer Numbers Archived October 16, 2012, at the Wayback Machine China Mobile Official Site
^Tania Branigan (January 11, 2010). "State owned China Mobile is world's biggest mobile phone operator". Guardian News and Media Limited. Archived from the original on September 9, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2011.
^Source: wireless intelligence
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