BPL, which has mobile operations in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala andMumbai had approached ICICI Securities in January to negotiate the deal.However, a BPL official spokesman said that the company had not initiatedtalks with the Modis for the purpose. He also declined to comment on theacquisition strategies of BPL.

Sources say Hutchison has been eyeing the Bangalore mobile market for sometime. Following the acquisitions in Delhi, Calcutta and the proposed one inHinduja's Gujarat circle, the next step would be to enter the Garden Cityand then expand in other metros.

BPL is finalising its strategies to initiate parleys with Spice Telecom. Itis not known whether the group is eyeing a merger with the Modis or acontrolling stake in Spice. Sources say that the proposed foray into theKarnataka circle makes sense for BPL since Bangalore is the home turf forRajeev Chandrasekhar's BPL Innovision.

Sources say this is the second attempt by the group to enter into Bangalorecellular market. Earlier, BPL had initiated talks with the promoters of JTMobiles, which has operations in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. But Mittalshave acquired a controlling equity stake in JTM with an investment of Rs 400crore.

The BPL group has also tried to take an equity stake in Hinduja-promotedFascel, the cellular service provider in Gujarat. But the largest bidder,Hutchison, is bringing Fascel into its fold. Since BPL Innovision is goingfor an ADR issue soon, the funding of the new ventures will not be a majorproblem for the group, sources said. Spice Telecom offers its services underthe Spice brandname. It had spent more than Rs 450 crore up to October 1999for its networks in Punjab and Karnataka. The company has installed nearly1,150 km of optical fibre cables in Karnataka and plans to add another 900km shortly.