Who owns the mobile operators?

NEWS It is no surprise Vodafone always seems to be involved in a tussle for one operator or another. New research shows the mobile giant is still the world's largest global investor in operations. It now has 102.9 million subscribers proportionate to its holdings across six regions and 32 networks. The single biggest operator, however, has no international footprint. With 133 million domestic users, China Mobile tops the league table in pure number terms, according to the latest EMC World Cellular Investors research. Vodafone is a 3.27 per cent shareholder in the company. T-Mobile has slipped to fourth place in the EMC standings. Despite 56.8 million subscribers across five regions and 22 networks - most notably including its T-Mobile companies - it is behind fast-growing China Unicom, with 59.3 million users.