From correspondents in Delhi, India, 09:32 PM IST

Then state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has placed an order of five million lines for its third generation (3G) mobile services to Swedish firm Ericsson, the company said Tuesday.

'We have already placed orders for five million lines to Ericsson for the 3G service," BSNL chairman and managing director Kuldeep Goyal told reporters here on the sidelines of a company event.

He said the service would take at least six months to be rolled out.

The BSNL chief was also hopeful of getting union support for the 10 percent disinvestment, which could raise up to $10 billion in the country's biggest-ever share sale.

'There are positive responses. They (the unions) are discussing it with employees... they have said they will have an open mind on it,' Goyal said.

The company has about 314,000 employees and had met the Department of Telecom last week to resolve the disinvestment issue.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)