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The Australian government has sold a stake in Telstra Corp. Ltd., the nation's dominant telecommunications carrier, as an initial public offering (IPO) commenced yesterday (11/17) in Australia and on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). A total of about 4 billion of Telstra's 12.9 billion outstanding shares were offered for sale, one of the largest IPOs seen this year. The IPO was expected to generate about $10 billion in proceeds for the Australian government, which will use the funds to retire debt and finance major environmental projects throughout the country. More than 1.8 million individual Australians chose to become shareholders in Telstra.