France Telecom, one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies, closed on a public offering of senior unsecured debt Tuesday, issuing $2.5 billion in senior notes.

The company originally planned to sell just $2 billion, but bumped up the amount of the offering in an effort to reduce its huge debt load. Half the notes will come due in 2014 and the other half in 2019. This marks France Telecom’s first U.S. offering since 2001, when it offered $16.5 billion in Yankee Bonds.