French billionaire Patrick Drahi is reportedly interested in increasing his stake in BT.
Drahi, who already owns a 24.5 percent stake in the British telco, wants to increase his stake to 29.9 percent, according to This is Money, which cites City sources.
Drahi, who is the founder of French telecoms company Altice, has previously ruled out a full takeover.
Reports of Drahi's increased interest follow media speculation earlier this month that German telco Deutsche Telekom - which currently owns a 12 percent stake in BT - is rumored to be lining up an approach for the UK telco.
Drahi most recently increased his stake in BT to 24.5 percent in May, up from 18 percent last summer. He acquired 12.1 percent of the company back in 2021 for £2 billion ($2.57bn).
BT is estimated to be worth £12.6 billion ($16.1bn).
The move to up his stake to 18 percent was heavily scrutinized at the time by the UK government, with business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng calling it in for a full national security assessment in May 2022.
BT recently announced the big job cuts in its history, as the telco outlined plans to cut 55,000 jobs by the end of the decade, while earlier this month the company's chief executive Philip Jansen revealed he's stepping down in the next 12 months.
Drahi's Altice owns SFR, the second-largest French mobile operator. In 2021, Drahi put in a bid to acquire satellite operator Eutelsat, which the company turned down.
