Fate of Telecom Industry in India (Feb 2020)

Existing Mobile operators as of Feb 2020 

Rank --- Operator --- Subscribers (millions) --- Market Share --- Ownership

1 --- Jio --- 369.93 --- 32.04% --- Reliance Industries Limited

2 --- Vodafone Idea --- 336.25 --- 29.12% --- Vodafone Group (45.1%), Aditya Birla Group (26%), Axiata Group Berhad (8.17%), Private Equity (20.73%) 

3 --- Airtel --- 327.30 --- 28.35% --- Bharti Airtel Limited

4 --- BSNL --- 121.00 --- 10.48% --- Government of India 

Debt on each one 

Airtel Debt: INR 1080 billion [1]
Jio Debt: INR 1080 billion (1.08 lakh crore) [2]
Vodafone Idea Debt: INR 1531 billion (1.531 lakh crore) [3]
BSNL Debt: INR 150 billion (15,000 crore) [4]

Wikipedia info-cards of the four existing mobile operators as of Feb 2020 

1. Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited

Type: Subsidiary of Reliance Industries
Industry: Telecommunications
Founded: 15 February 2007; 12 years ago
Founder: Mukesh Ambani
Headquarters: Maker Chambers IV, 222 Nariman Point, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Key people: Mukesh Ambani (Chairman), Sandeep Das (Managing Director)
Products: Fixed line telephone, Mobile telephony, Wireless broadband, Internet services, OTT Services
Revenue: ₹11,679 crore (US$1.6 billion) (Q4 2019)
Operating income: ₹3,631.2 crore (US$510 million) (Q4 2019)
Net income: ₹1,148 crore (US$160 million) (FY 2019)
Total assets: ₹187,720 crore (US$26 billion) (FY 2019)
Total equity: ₹70,864 crore (US$9.9 billion) (FY 2019)
Members: 370 million (30 November 2019)
Parent: Reliance Industries 
Subsidiaries: LYF
Website: www.jio.com

2. Vodafone Idea Limited

Type: Public
Traded as: BSE: 532822, NSE: IDEA
ISIN: INE669E01016
Industry: Telecommunications
Predecessor: Vodafone India, Idea Cellular Limited
Founded: 31 August 2018; 17 months ago
Headquarters: Mumbai (Corp.), Gandhinagar (Reg.) (Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India)
Key people: Kumar Mangalam Birla (Chairman), Ravinder Takkar (CEO)
Products: Mobile telephony, Wireless broadband, Internet services
Revenue: ₹378,236 million (US$5.3 billion) (2019)
Operating income: ₹-192,243 million (US$−2.7 billion) (2019)
Net income: ₹-145,711 million (US$−2.0 billion) (2019)
Total assets: ₹2,296,995 million (US$32 billion) (2019)
Total equity: ₹596,348 million (US$8.4 billion) (2019)
Members: 336.26 million (30 November 2019)
Number of employees: 13,520 (2019)
Parent: Vodafone Group (45.1%), Aditya Birla Group (26.0%), Axiata Group Berhad (8.17%), Private Equity (20.73%)
Subsidiaries: You Broadband Limited
Website: www.vodafoneidea.com

3. Airtel India

Type: Public
Industry: Telecommunications
Founded: 7 July 1995; 24 years ago
Founder: Sunil Bharti Mittal
Headquarters: Bharti Crescent, 1, Nelson Mandela Road, New Delhi, India
Area served: India
Key people: Sunil Bharti Mittal (Chairman and MD)
Products: Fixed line and mobile telephony, broadband and fixed-line internet services, digital television and IPTV
Members: 327.30 million (November 2019)
Parent: Bharti Airtel
Website: www.airtel.in

4. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
Type: State owned organization
Industry: Telecommunications
Founded: 1 October 2000; 19 years ago
Headquarters: New Delhi, India
Area served: India
Key people: Pravin Kumar Purwar (Chairman & MD) (interim)
Services: Fixed line telephone, Mobile phone, Broadband, Internet television, IPTV
Revenue: ₹19,308 crore (US$2.7 billion) (FY 2019)
Operating income: ₹-14,000.00 crore (US$−2.0 billion) (FY 2019) 
Net income: ₹3,879.92 crore (US$540 million) (FY 2019)
Total assets: ₹70,746.75 crore (US$9.9 billion) (FY 2019)
Owner: Government of India (100%)
Members: 121.00 million (November 2019)
Number of employees: 70,216 appx(2019)
Divisions: BSNL Mobile, BSNL Broadband, BSNL Landline
Subsidiaries: BSNL Towers Limited, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited
Website: www.bsnl.co.in

Defunct operators 

Operator --- Ceased Operations --- Fate 

Modi Telstra --- 2000 --- Merged into Axiata Spice Communications 
Hutch --- 2007 --- Bought by Vodafone Group 
Axiata Spice Communications --- 2008 --- Merged into Idea cellular 
S-Tel --- 2012 --- Licence cancelled by the Supreme Court of India 
Etisalat --- 2012 --- Licence cancelled by the Supreme Court of India 
Loop Mobile --- 2014 --- Ceased operations after expiration of licence 
Virgin Mobile India --- 2015 --- Merged into Tata Docomo 
T24 Mobile --- 2015 --- Merged into Tata Docomo 
Videocon --- 2016 --- Shut down following sale of spectrum to Bharti Airtel 
MTS India --- 2017 --- Merged into Reliance Communications 
Vodafone India --- 2018 --- Merged with Idea to form Vodafone Idea Limited 
Idea Cellular --- 2018 --- Merged with Vodafone India to form Vodafone Idea Limited 
Aircel --- 2018 --- Bankrupt 
Telenor India --- 2018 --- Merged into Bharti Airtel 
Tata Docomo --- 2019 --- Merged into Bharti Airtel 
Reliance Communications --- 2019 --- Bankrupt 

Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_telecom_companies_in_India

Case Study on defunct operator: Aircel 
Former type: Private
Industry: Telecommunications
Fate: Bankrupt
Founded: Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India (1999)
Founder: Chinnakannan Sivasankaran
Defunct: 28 February 2018
Headquarters: Opus Centre, 47, Central Road, MIDC, Andheri, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Services: Mobile telephony, wireless broadband
Revenue: US$ 1.159 billion (2012)
Owners: Maxis (74%)
Apollo Hospitals (Sindya Securities and Investments 26%)
Website: aircel.com

Aircel Ltd. was an Indian mobile network operator headquartered in Mumbai that offered voice and 2G and 3G data services. Maxis Communications held a 74% stake and Sindya Securities and Investments held the remaining 26%. Aircel was founded by Chinnakannan Sivasankaran and commenced operations in Tamil Nadu in 1999. It was once a market leader in Tamil Nadu and had considerable presence in Odisha, Assam and North-East telecom circles. 2G and 3G Services including voice were shut down in all circles due to failure in merge with Reliance Communications.

History: Aircel was founded by Chinna Kannan sivasankaran from Kovilur, Cheyyar, Thiruvannamalai and started its operations in the Tamil Nadu telecom circle in 1999. It became the leading operator in Tamil Nadu and one of the fastest growing mobile operators in India. Malaysian telecom company Maxis Communications bought a 74% stock in the company from Sivasankaran in 2005. The remaining 26% stock is held by Sindya Securities and Investments promoted by Suneeta Reddy, Managing Director of Apollo Hospitals. In 2012, as a part of a major re-organization in its operations, the company scaled down its operations in five telecom circles, namely Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Kerala and Punjab. In April 2015, Aircel relaunched its service in Kerala. On 14 September 2016, Reliance Communications and Aircel announced the merger of their mobile network operations. Following the merger, the joint entity was expected to become India's fourth largest telecom operator in term of consumer base and revenues. A year later, however, both the companies called off the deal citing regulatory and legal issues. Aircel had planned to shut down its operations in unprofitable circles including, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh (West) from 30 January 2018. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) asked Aircel to report the number of subscribers who have ported out from Aircel in these six circles. In cases, where the porting process could not be completed TRAI has asked the reasons for it. After the failed merger deal with Reliance, Aircel had considered merging with Bharti Airtel, whose chairman Sunil Mittal had stated in November 2017, that Airtel "was open to acquisition talks". As of December 2017, Aircel was under a debt of around ₹16,000 crore (US$2.2 billion). 

Operations: As of December 2017, Aircel had a subscriber base of over 84.93 million and was India's sixth-largest GSM mobile service provider. With presence in 22 circles, Aircel was a market leader in Tamil Nadu and had considerable presence in Odisha, Assam and North-East circles. In 2012, as a part of a major re-organization in its operations, the company scaled down its operations in five telecom circles, namely Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Kerala and Punjab. In April 2015, Aircel relaunched its service in Kerala. Now Aircel is under Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process From 12th March 2018.

Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircel

References: 

Ref 1: https://www.statista.com/statistics/740587/india-bharti-airtel-net-debt/
Ref 2: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/global-brokerages-raise-ril-outlook-on-move-to-make-jio-debt-free/articleshow/71805914.cms?from=mdr

Ref 3: https://www.bloombergquint.com/bq-blue-exclusive/vodafone-idea-debt-agr-cues-telecom-tariff-war-birla-trai-jio-airtel

Ref 4: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/telecom/telecom-news/bsnl-clears-employees-full-salary-for-june/articleshow/70004689.cms?from=mdr