Telecoms mogul,   Egyptian Naguib Sawiris, still entertains the idea of acquiring a shareholding in Telecom Italia, Reuters reported late on Monday.

According to Reuters, Sawiris could only be put off the idea by the Italian administration’s opposition to the idea of buying this stake.

Sawiris – born 15 June 1954 – is an Egyptian businessman and politician. He was executive chairman of the telecommunications companies Wind Telecom and Orascom Telecom Holdings (OTH) before turning to politics in May 2011.

In 1998, OTH launched Mobinil, the first mobile operator in Egypt. OTH has 20,000 employees and manages 11 GSM operators around the world.

In the beginning, OTH’s strategy was to target underpenetrated high population markets.

But soon after, it pursued more developed markets, with the launch of Wind Mobile by Globalive, its Canadian unit in December 2009.

In addition, OTH launched Koryolink, the first mobile operator in North Korea in 2008.

Sawiris, responding in an email to Reuters at the weekend, told the news wire he was still pondering prospective investment in the Italian company.

According to Reuters, Telecom Italia has been identified as a merger target in the consolidation of the sector which is likely to be activated by Verizon communications’ $130 billion acquisition of British operator, Vodafone, late last week.