Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC) is the main telecommunication services operator in Bulgaria, employing over 12 000 professionals. BTC has 2.5 million fixed-line subscribers and a growing number of mobile customers to its GSM operator, vivatel. In June 2004, the Bulgarian government sold 65% of BTC to Viva Ventures, a consortium led by the US private equity fund Advent International. In January 2005, the Bulgarian state initiated an IPO and offered a total of 2 869 573 shares (34.78 per cent of BTC’s capital) at the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.