GENEVA, Nov. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- The Swiss government on Thursday announced plans to sell its majority stake in the country's leading telecoms operator Swisscom.

    The move is intended to give the company more flexibility to expand its business operations and seek out new alliances, said a joint statement issued by the finance ministry and the telecommunications department.

    Swisscom, peeled off from the former national postal and telecommunications monopoly PTT in 1998, is still 66-percent state owned.

    Nevertheless, the telecoms giant has been seeking acquisitions in Europe for several years.

    Last month, Swisscom completed the 293 million Swiss franc (about 223 million US dollars) purchase of a 75-percent stake in Antenna Hungaria, a Hungarian cable and satellite operator.

    Earlier this month, it said it had begun talks with Irish group Eircom for a possible investment.

    "The state will no longer have to take on the risks to which the company is exposed," said the statement.

    The government has also urged the finance ministry to initiate moves to revise the telecoms law, but it could take up to three years to get the legal framework in place, it added. Enditem