The board of Grameenphone, Bangladesh's biggest mobile phone operator, has approved plans for what is set to be the country's largest initial public offering, the company said Thursday.

Grameenphone, 62 percent owned by Norwegian telecom company Telenor and 38 percent owned by local Grameen Telecom, is expected to apply to liston the country's two main stock exchanges by the end of the month, a company statement said.

It plans to raise 300 million dollars through the IPO, half by floating shares on the Dhaka and Chittagong bourses and the other half by selling pre-IPO shares.

"We are hopeful that Grameenphone's inclusion in the country's bourses will further highlight the potential of capital markets as an important engine of economic growth," Grameenphone CEO Anders Jensen said.

"It will also enable the people of Bangladesh to share the success of the company."

The company, valued at 3.75 dollars earlier this year by its issue manager Citigroup, has more than 20 million of Bangladesh's 44 million cellular subscribers.

The move will be the biggest in Bangladesh's history and comes as stocks on both of its two main bourses have been plunging.

Last year privately owned Shahjalal Islami Bank raised 13.4 million dollars, currently the biggest IPO in the country.

Grameen Telecom, owned by micro-finance giant Grameen Bank, was set up by 2006 Nobel peace prize winner Muhammad Yunus.

The telecommunications sector has emerged as a key driver of the economy of Bangladesh, which is one of the world's poorest countries, with nearly 40 per cent of its 144 million population surviving on less than a dollar day.

The booming mobile phone industry has created nearly 240,000 jobs, a study last year said.

Source: AFP