
Deutsche Telekom, otherwise known as T-Mobile, is looking at buying Sprint Nextel according to sources that spoke to the Telegraph. A bid could come within the next few weeks. As of Q2 2009, Verizon had 87.7 million customers, AT&T 79.6 million, Sprint Nextel 48.8 million and T-Mobile 33.5 million customers. If T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel merged, together they would have 82.3 million customers and therefore become America’s second largest operator. Technologically speaking, there is a bit of a problem with the merger. Sprint has a CDMA network, while T-Mobile uses GSM. Sprint is also one of the few nutjobs around the world trying to get WiMAX off the ground, for reasons only Dan Hesse and God know. If T-Mobile does indeed decide Sprint Nextel, which today is worth $10.6 billion, they’re going to have to spend an insane amount of money just to switch Sprint’s infrastructure over to GSM. It’s tricky, it’s risky, but AT&T and Verizon need a swift kick in the pants.