Sprint Reportedly Preparing Bid For T-Mobile

(RTTNews) - Sprint Corp. (S), the third largest U.S. wireless carrier, is preparing a possible bid for rival T-Mobile US, Inc. (TMUS), the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Sprint is studying regulatory concerns and could launch a bid worth more than $20 billion in the first half of next year, the Journal quoted the people as saying.

A merger of the third- and fourth-largest wireless carriers could create a company large enough to challenge the market dominance of Verizon wireless and AT&T, Inc. (T), but would likely face serious scrutiny from regulators mainly because of antitrust concerns.

AT&T had to abandon its $39 billion deal to buy T-Mobile in 2011, as regulators tried to block the deal on antitrust concerns. Sprint Corp. was formed following the merger of Sprint Nextel Corp. and Japan's SoftBank Corp. in August. SoftBank currently owns more than 80% of Sprint Corp.

Deutsche Telekom AG owns about 67% of T-Mobile US, which became publicly listed this spring after merging with smaller rival MetroPCS Communications Inc.

T-Mobile shares closed Friday's regular trading session at $27.64, up $2.20 or 8.65%, but lost 0.33% in after hours trading. Sprint shares closed the day's regular session at $8.43, up 28 cents or 3.44% and gained an additional 2.97% in extended hours trading.