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The Telegraph is reporting that T-Mobile, which is partly owned by the German government, is interested in taking over Sprint/Nextel.  The move that would make the combined unit the 2nd largest telecom in the US.  Technical hurdles exist, but the move could position the unit in the US to become a spoiler in the AT&T/Verizon battle.

Interestingly, the German government has a 32% stake in T-Mobile.  Word is a bid could come in the next few weeks.  Sprint is currently valued at $10.6 billion, so this is a major transaction.

The biggest technical hurdle is Sprint runs CDMA while T-Mobile is GSM.  The two incompatible technologies mean an expensive conversion as T-Mobile would look to dump CDMA.  The move to 4G negates much of this difference in the long run, but short term, you’ve got two networks that don’t play with each other.  More on this as it happens.

Read: [Telegraph]