By Peter Radizeski, President of RAD-INFO

On the one hand I can see why Deutsche Telekom would want to buy Sprint:

1. It's cheap right now (junk status). 

2. Under-utilized assets like its fiber backbone and IP Network.

3. iDen can be spun-off for a public safety play and Sprint is thinking of spinning off Nextel. 

4. Pivot - its partnership with cable companies.

5. All that 2.5 GHz.

6. XOHM, WiMax, and the VC money to build it from Intel, et al.

On the other hand, how does T-Mobile gain by buying a CDMA and iDen mixed signaling company? The systems aren't compatible - and that is why Sprint is crippled. Handsets don't come with chipsets for more than one signaling code.

Big reason not to: Sprint just lost its largest cellular customer - Qwest.

Why would DT want this mess? Sprint just lost an appeal of an FCC order to move off the spectrum that Nextel shares with public safety by mid-June.

Estimates are that it will cost about $3 billion more than the $1 billion it has already spent to re-allocate spectrum. 

There were rumors months ago that DT wanted to sell T-Mobile. I guess it was a case of go-big or go-home. (The only other GSM carrier in the United States is AT&T - and DT won't be buying that.)

I'm surprised that the cable coalition (Pivot, maybe) has not thrown the money in to buy Sprint. It would give them a wireless component, VoIP patents and a voice termination network. It would also give cable a Top 10 IP network. I guess cable is saving its pennies for that DOCSIS 3.0 upgrade that analysts expect to cost another $100 billion. (It cost about that to upgrade to DOCSIS 2.)

Verizon Wireless can't buy Sprint because even this crazy FCC and those fine folks at Anti-Trust would have a hard time right now passing that merger.

That leaves Alltel, a fellow CDMA carrier that went private last year. I doubt they could scrounge the money up.

My last guess would be Craig McCaw. If anyone could raise the capital to buy Sprint, he could. But we all know that he would just be flipping it. Paint it. Plant some flowers. Then re-sell it. That wouldn't be good for the employees, the channel or the customers.

Agents would probably benefit since Sprint and T-Mobile are the most agent friendly of the cellcos.

One last point is that Sprint isn't the only company in our space that is messed up. (Some just hide it from the press better than others.) It seems to be a sign of the times. Or it could just be greed. If you just focus on the customers, everything else is details.