Deutsche Telekom eyes US’s Sprint Nextel

German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom AG (DT), owner of T-Mobile USA, is mulling a bid for thye third largest US  mobile service provider Sprint Nextel Corporation (Sprint), the UK's The Sunday Telegraph reported Saturday.

DT's banking advisor, Deutsche Bank has been called to study a possible multi-billion dollar bid for Sprint, The Sunday Telegraph said, adding that at current market valuations, Sprint was worth approximately $10.8 billion.

Washington-based T-Mobile USA is part of the T-Mobile International AG, a main branch of Bonn-based Deutsche Telekom AG, one of the world's largest telecom companies with operations in US, Germany, UK, Austria, the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Poland.

T-Mobile USA is the fourth largest wireless carrier in the US with around 33 million customers and revenue of $21.9 billion in 2008.

Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint operates the third-largest wireless telecommunications network in the US, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility with a customer base of nearly 49 million. The company provides mobile data services, instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities, and a global Tier 1 internet backbone.

Sprint reported a turnover of $35.6 billion in 2008 with a net loss of $2.8 billion.