This paper presents a simple approach for finding the optimal placement of Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) considering bus connectivity matrix and line connectivity matrix. The approach apart from minimizing number of PMUs also minimizes the number of branch current phasors. In this approach, a method is proposed in which the OPP problem is solved while considering PMUs with limit on the number of channels. Conventional Binary Integer Linear Programming (BILP) is adopted to solve the optimization problem. The approach guarantees the optimum number of PMUs and minimum number of channels. The proposed approach is illustrated on a sample 7-bus system and extended to IEEE 14-bus, IEEE 24-bus, IEEE 30-bus, New England 39-bus, IEEE 57-bus and IEEE 118-bus systems for illustration purpose. © 2014 IEEE.