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To some mobile operators, it's the saviour that could pull them out of sour investments. To others, it's the predator that sneaks in and snatches the deals they thought they'd wrapped up. Either way, whether you're a competitor or a humble subscriber in India's cellular business, it's hard to ignore Hutchison.

With 23 per cent of India's total subscriber base under its belt Hutchison has emerged as the country's largest cellphone operator, ahead of Mittal, Chandrasekhar and even the formidable Tata-AT&T-Birla combine. If several more deals come through, it will soon be in an unassailable position.

Last week, for instance, when news filtered in that Hutchison is taking a 49 per cent stake in Fascel, the mobile services operator in Gujarat, it was Hutchison's fourth acquisition in India during the last three years, the third in the space of six months and the second in the last fortnight.

A few days before the Fascel deal made the headlines, Hutchison took over Malaysia Telekom Berhad's shareholding in Usha Martin Telekom, one of the two Calcutta operators. While Malaysia Telekom held a 49 per cent stake, it had effective control over 55 per cent shares by virtue of being a majority partner in Telecom Investments, a company that holds 11.29 per cent of Usha Martin Telekom shares. The cost of acquisition: $106 million (approximately Rs 465 crore).

In December last year, Hutchison had bought out Swisscom of Switzerland and Singapore-based C Sivasankaran in Sterling Cellular, the mobile operator in Delhi. For their 49 per cent stake, Hutchison is known to have forked out $100 million (roughly Rs 440 crore).

A couple of years before that, Analjit Singh of Max India had sold out of Hutchison Max which operates in Mumbai to his overseas partner. Singh received in excess of Rs 560 crore for selling 41 per cent shares in the company (he still retains 10 per cent shares).

What is more, Hutchison it is at an advanced stage of negotiations to acquire a 49 per cent stake in Aircell Digilink, the operator in east Uttar Pradesh (East), Rajasthan and Haryana from the Ruias of Essar. A formal announcement to this effect is likely to be made shortly.

It's a deal that's been done in typical Hutchison style _ low-key but effective. A Delhi-based investment banker who recently approached the Ruias with an offer to buy them out in Aircell Digilink was told that the deal with Hutchison was more or less through.

Sources close to the Hutchison brass in Hongkong also disclose that its next target is Punjab. It is reportedly talking to one of the operators in the state.

Even before that happens, Hutchison will soon have an enviable collection of circles in the country: metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta (except Chennai, it operates in all the country's metros); contiguous states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana; and east Uttar Pradesh.

It is reliably learnt that it is also planning to roll out its international brand Orange in all these circles. Right now, Orange has been unveiled only in Mumbai. "We can prepare for some tough competition now," says Alok Tandon, managing director of Shyam Telelink which operates in Rajasthan under the brand Oasis.

That's an understatement. Hutchison's acquisitions now raise the possibility that all Orange territory will become one network where people can use the same number and internal calls will be priced at par with local calls. "A lot of people will prefer to have this service because it the system of roaming thereby meaning a lot of saving," says a source close to the company.

What a change from not so long ago when Hutchison was a reluctant investor in India. It is worth remembering that while Singh's Max India had bid for Mumbai with Hutchison, it bid for the circles in association with British Telecom. Of course, the duo couldn't bag any circles and they parted ways.

What has now fired Hutchison's appetite for Indian circles is the impending boom in the subscriber base driven by the fall in tariffs and the large cache of money it is sitting on.

Sample this: a couple of months ago, Hutchison sold 1.5 per cent of Vodafone Airtouch Plc shares in London for a staggering $4.7 billion (Rs 20,680 crore). "It has enough money to buy out all the Indian operators two times over," says a Delhi-based telecom operator.

Without a doubt. Li Ka-Shing, the shrewd owner of Hutchison, was the tenth entry from the top in the Forbes list of business tycoons last year with a personal net worth of $12.7 billion (over Rs 50,000 crore). Recently, the world gaped in awe as Hutchison bid