Mumbai: The government has targeted to raise a whopping Rs40,000 crore ($10 billion) in the country's largest-ever initial share offer through a sale of stake in state-owned telecom firm Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), but a decision is likely to be made only after talks with trade unions.

Telecom minister Andimuthu Raja said the board of BSNL, the country's largest telecom company, had approved the IPO proposal, but said he had asked the public sector firm to first negotiate with the unions.

"After that the government can come to a conclusion what type of decision can be taken," Raja said, adding there was no set time-frame.

As per the issue plan, BSNL's 304,000 employees will be offered 500 shares each at Rs10 a share against the IPO price range of Rs300-400 per share, Raja said.

BSNL is the country's top telecom company by subscriber numbers, although it lags in mobile services behind leaders Bharti Airtel Ltd, Reliance Communications Ltd and Vodafone Essar.

BSNL had nearly 73 million wireless and fixed-line subscribers as of end-June, slightly ahead of Bharti Airtel's nearly 72 million users.

The government had planned to list BSNL in January this year, but had to place the plan on the backburner following opposition from coalition government's Left allies and unions.

The sale plan got a boost after a change in the political equations ahead of a vote on the Indo-US nuclear agreement, when the UPA coalition swapped support of the Left with that of the Samajwadi Party.

BSNL employees union has so far been opposing the plan and has rejected the government's offer, but Raja said talks with the unions would continue.

Raja met representative of the unions and BSNL officials to discuss the matter. He said the company and the unions should get engaged in rounds of talks in the near future.

Raja allayed apprehensions of the trade unions regarding the IPO issue and said this would benefit the public sector telecom giant. He underlined that it will reveal real value of the BSNL. It will also help in getting 'Navratna Status' for BSNL, which will result in more autonomy. It will increase BSNL rating in national and international markets, which will result in better business negotiations in the competitive environment, he said.

 The listing of BSNL will require placing all the accounts of the company in public domain, which will result in transparency and help in better resource management, he added.