KIEV, Sept. 28 – The government has decided to put the entire state stake in telecom giant Ukrtelecom up for sale, Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Tyhypko said on Tuesday.

"We're putting an entire stake in Ukrtelecom up for sale," he said.

State Property Fund head Oleksandr Riabchenko said earlier that a tender for Ukrtelecom's privatization would have to be called by August 15, 2010 so that the expected proceeds of at least UAH 10 billion could go towards meeting the budgeted privatization target for the year. However, Ukraine then delayed the launch of Ukrtelecom's privatization by a month and planned to offer 92.79% of the national provider at an auction in September rather than August.