The New Delhi-based group said it had bought out the 24.5 percent stakes held each by Luxembourg-based Millicom and Atlanta-based BellSouth International in SkyCell.

     "This acquisition marks an important milestone for Bharti in the south. It allows us to spread our wings into Madras, one of the most exciting emerging markets in South India," Bharti's chairman said in a statement.

     The statement did not give give any value of the deals, but a source close to the deal said the stakes changed hands at $21.5 million each.

     The move is yet another attempt by Bharti to consolidate its hold over its fast growing mobile business.

     Bharti first bought into the firm in August last year when it acquired the 40.5 percent holding of Indian electrical appliances maker Crompton Greaves in the firm.

     A local firm, DSS Enterprises, holds the remaining 10.5 percent in SkyCell which Bharti plans to rename as Bharti Mobinet Ltd.

     SWINGING DEALS

     The latest deal is yet another in a long list of aggressive acquisitions the unlisted group has sewed up this year.

     In June, Bharti bought a 44 percent stake held by British Telecom in Bharti Cellular for around 120 million pounds. Bharti Cellular is a group operating company that provides mobile services in the Indian capital, New Delhi.

     In July, it bought Spice Cell, a mobile phone operator in the eastern city of Calcutta, from ModiCorp, a holding company of India's B.K. Modi business family, and Hong Kong's Distacom, in an all cash deal whose value was not disclosed.

     Bharti's operations will now cover the three main city markets of New Delhi, Madras and Calcutta in addition to its existing networks in the southern states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and the northern state of Himachal Pradesh.

     Bharti swept India's recently-concluded auction for new mobile licences, winning eight out of 11 licences it bid for.

     On Tuesday, the Indian government said it would allow the group to start operations in the northern state of Punjab once it paid 4.9 billion rupees in dues to it. Bharti plans to make the payments in the next 48 hours.

     The group is one of few Indian telecom companies which has the cash to fund its ambitious growth plans and its acquisitions.

     It has received over $1 billion in funding in the past one year from a clutch of investors including Singapore Telecom , E.M. Warburg Pincus, the International Finance Corp and New York Life.

     Its operations now span telephone handset manufacture to operating cellular and fixed-line phone networks, Internet access and a V-SAT network.

     It is also building on a nationwide optic fibre cable network for a planned foray into national long distance telephone services.

     Together with Singapore Telecom, it's laying an undersea cable connecting the Indian cities of Bombay and Madras with Singapore to enter the international long distance telecoms business.