Indian billionaire Sunil Mittal is considering increasing his stake in British telco giant BT.

Mittal, founder of Indian mobile carrier Bharti Airtel, already owns a 24.5 percent stake in the company after acquiring shares from Altice founder Patrick Drahi last year.

The Financial Times has now reported that Mittal could increase his stake and involvement within the company, as BT continues to restructure and cut costs.

Mittal is currently in the process of converting his stake into equity, added the FT.

He initially acquired a 10 percent stake earlier in 2024, before gaining government approval to increase the stake to its current 24.5 percent. Mittal has previously stated he has no interest in pushing for a takeover of BT.

The government approved the deal on the basis that BT establishes a national security committee within the company to oversee “strategic work that it performs which has an impact on or is in respect of the national security.”

Drahi only increased Altice UK’s stake in BT to 24.5 percent in May of 2023, and even had plans to increase it to nearly 30 percent. However, Altice has been looking to shift assets in order to pay down its mounting debt, which sits at around $60 billion.

Bharti, founded by billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal, has sought opportunities beyond India but ruled out a full buyout of BT.

Ironically, BT previously owned a 21 percent stake in Bharti Airtel between 1997 and 2001, a subsidiary of Bharti Enterprises Limited.

BT CEO Allison Kirkby outlined plans last year to save a further £3 billion ($3.79bn) in costs by the end of 2029.

In 2023, BT announced plans to cut 55,000 jobs by the end of the decade, affecting its operations both in the UK and globally. At the time, BT noted that its workforce was around 130,000.

The company has sold off some of its assets in the last year too, notably its Irish wholesale and enterprise unit to Cordiant subsidiary Speed Fibre Group in February and its Irish data center business to Equinix in December. BT’s international business unit is also up for sale.