Telecom Italia's new chairman said he expects the company's debt to fall by more than 3 billion euros ($4 billion), according to an Associated Press report.
The Associated Press report quoted Guido Rossi, in a parliamentary commission, as saying that the company has no plan to sell assets.
Rossi, who was appointed earlier this month, insisted that Telecom Italia has enough liquidity to meet all deadlines on its debt until the end of 2007, and that no banks had ever questioned the sustainability of the company's debt, the Associated Press report said.
Telecom Italia's debt level has come under scrutiny in recent days after the company's surprise announcement on September 11 that it plans a reorganization that could possibly lead to asset sales, implying that it wants to pay down its debt, the report said.
After his plan to split the cellular phone and fixed line divisions created waves with the government, then-chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera resigned his position, the report said.
Rossi not provide any details about how the company plans to reduce the debt.