MILAN: Investors in Telecom Italia on Monday cheered a proposal by US fund KKR to buy Italy's debt-laden former phone monopoly for €33 billion (US$37 billion) in what would be Europe's biggest ever private equity buyout. The move comes as a boardroom war rages at Telecom Italia (TIM), which has been mired in crisis for years but is crucial to government efforts to expand broadband connectivity because it owns the country's main network.