"According to our information, the group is looking to buy blocs of Telecom Italia's shares to beef up its position in the capital," Les Echos said, without citing its sources.

In June, Vivendi raised its stake in Telecom Italia to just under 15 percent, replacing Telefonica as the Italian phone company's biggest investor and gaining a foothold in a country it said had significant growth prospects.

Vivendi had rounded up its stake Telecom Italia to 15.486 percent as of Sept. 4 from 14.9 percent previously, Italian market watchdog Consob said on Sept. 9.

Vivendi declined to comment on the report.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon and Leila Abboud; editing by David Clarke)

Stocks treated in this article : Vivendi, Telecom Italia SpA