By Michal Lev-Ram

Just as one high-profile buyout bid is wrapping up, another may be beginning.

Deutsche Telekom AG (DT), the parent company of T-Mobile, is considering a bid to acquire Sprint Nextel (S), according to news reports Monday.

Shares of Sprint were up nearly 6% on the news, while Deutsche Telekom was down about 1.4%.

While Germany-based Deutsche Telekom has nearly 120 million customers worldwide, T-Mobile is the smallest of the top four mobile operators in the United States, with just 28.7 million subscribers. A combination with Sprint (which has about 54 million customers) would make T-Mobile the largest U.S. wireless carrier, ahead of rivals Verizon Wireless (VZ) and AT&T (T).

Last year, Deutsche Telekom said it would look at international acquisitions as part of a new growth strategy its CEO called “Focus, fix and grow.”

“We want to use our expertise to be able to grow in mobile communications, including the possibility of acquisitions, based on our strict business criteria,” Rene Obermann, the company’s chief executive, said in March 2007.

But while Sprint’s flagging share price, coupled with the benefits of its subscriber base and spectrum holdings, may make it an attractive target, some analysts say a buyout is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

Sprint has been struggling with customer service issues and managing the two networks it currently runs, and has also run into problems with the delayed launch of yet another next-generation network called WiMAX, now expected to roll out later this summer. All three of Sprint’s network technologies are different from T-Mobile’s GSM infrastructure, which means they’re compatible with different phones. Running all four could be a logistical nightmare for Deutsche Telekom.

Citigroup analyst Michael Rollins predicts that there’s a 25% chance of a Sprint acquisition — not just by Deutsche Telekom — in the next year.

“…The problems at Sprint are still deep-rooted and may deter a buyer in the near-term…” Rollins said Monday in a written report, adding that other potential obstacles to a deal going through include issues with regulatory approval and the difficulties of integrating Sprint and T-Mobile’s different networks.

A Deutsche Telekom spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment. Sprint spokesperson Leigh Horner declined to comment on “speculation.”

Also on Monday, T-Mobile announced the New York City launch of its 3G network. It is the last of the top four carriers to roll out the technology, which provides customers with a higher-speed network well-suited for data services.

By Michal Lev-Ram

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has been in office for just three months, but he’s already starring in the company’s latest television commercial — an ad for its new unlimited pricing plan, which offers both voice and data for $100 a month.

The black-and-white ad is the first in Sprint’s (S) new branding campaign, which will emphasize a more “immediate approach” to customer service and highlight the “capabilities” of the company’s products, according to a release issued by the company early Monday.

Last month, Hesse told Fortune that his number one priority is improving customer service, followed by rebuilding Sprint’s brand. The key to the company’s new identity, he said, would be building on its wireless data services like text messaging, Web surfing, videos and music and navigation.

“Every carrier in America does voice well — it’s really not a differentiator anymore,” Hesse said in a phone interview late last month. “You need to define what position you can occupy that is different and then execute around that.”

Sprint’s unlimited “Simply Everything” plan was announced after Verizon Wireless (VZ), AT&T (T) and T-Mobile unveiled similar plans. But Sprint’s was the only one to include full data services in addition to unlimited calls.

But even Hesse, who implies that the new unlimited plan is revolutionary in the new ads, admits that “Simply Everything” is not enough to fix the company’s many problems. Last month, after Sprint posted a fourth-quarter loss of $29.5 billion and a continued decline in subscriber numbers, Hesse told investors that a turnaround will not happen for “many quarters.”

By Michal Lev-Ram

Sprint announced early Thursday that it would offer an unlimited voice and data plan, one week after rivals Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile launched plans that let users make as many calls as they want for $100.

Dubbed “Simply Everything,” Sprint’s (S) new service will also cost $100 a month, but unlike its competitors’ plans, the third-largest carrier is offering unlimited data services in addition to unlimited calls. Analysts had speculated that Sprint would try to compete with other carriers by offering a lower-priced plan for about $60. Instead, the company is offering more features for the same rate.

“This is not so much about price, it’s about differentiating our company,” Sprint chief executive officer Dan Hesse said Thursday morning during a conference call with analysts. “We’ve let our business get too complex, and we’re trying to make it simpler.”

In addition to unlimited nationwide calling, Sprint’s new plan will give users unlimited access to data services like text messaging, e-mail and Web surfing in addition to the company’s mobile TV, music and navigation services. It will be available on all the company’s networks — both CDMA and iDEN — starting Friday.

Verizon was the first to announce its service last week, but AT&T and T-Mobile followed just hours later. T-Mobile’s unlimited plan includes “all-you-can-eat” text and picture messaging, while AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) are offering unlimited domestic calls only. The unlimited plans were a first among major carriers, as wireless consumers typically pick rate plans based on how many minutes they think they’ll use per month and are stuck with paying steep fees (as much as 45 cents per minute) if they go over their allotted airtime.

Sprint, which posted a fourth-quarter loss of $29.5 billion Thursday, says it is hoping its new voice and data plan will help differentiate the company.

But even CEO Hesse admitted that “Simply Everything” won’t be enough to turn things around. Sprint faces significant challenges, including integrating Nextel’s network and repairing its poor customer service image. What’s more, it is bleeding customers — the company reported that it lost 683,000 subscribers in the fourth quarter.

“Our business is not performing well right now because we have not provided the right customer experience,” Hesse said Thursday. According to the CEO, a turnaround will not happen “for many quarters.”

By Michal Lev-Ram

Just hours after Verizon Wireless announced Tuesday that it was launching a $100 unlimited calling plan, rival AT&T matched the offer with its own $100 plan  Not to be outdone, T-Mobile hopped on the bandwagon late Tuesday, saying it too would launch $100 unlimited calling plan and kick in unlimited text messaging and other data services for free.

The announcements sent shares of both Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T) plummeting about 6% in late trading. But shares of all three carriers, including T-Mobile’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom (DT), were up slightly after the bell.

In a written statement, T-Mobile said its new rate plan is an effort to “help our customers stick together with those who matter most, and to provide the utmost value to our customers.”

AT&T spokesperson Mark Siegel said his company wants “to be able to rapidly respond to our customers’ needs and to be able to rapidly respond in a very, very competitive marketplace.”

Verizon’s new plan launches today, while AT&T and T-Mobile’s will be available to customers late this week.

The three mobile operators are fierce competitors. While Verizon and AT&T are both are considered to be the number one U.S. carrier — depending on the definition, as Verizon leads in revenue while AT&T has more subscribers — T-Mobile has built a reputation as the most “consumer-friendly” of the major carriers and is especially popular among young customers.

The unlimited plans are a first among major U.S. wireless operators, as consumers typically pick rate plans based on how many minutes they think they’ll use per month and are stuck with paying steep fees (as much as 45 cents per minute) if they go over their allotted airtime.

But Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile aren’t just competing with each other, they’re also attempting to take business from Internet phone calling providers like Comcast (CMCSA) and Vonage (VG). Those companies typically offer unlimited calls for as low as $25 per month.

While Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, services tend to be inexpensive (some are even free), they are usually confined to home phones or personal computers. Verizon says it is counting on its service to appeal to the growing number of consumers who rely exclusively on their mobile phone to make calls. According to CTIA, a wireless trade association, 12.8% of U.S. households were “wireless-only” in 2007, up from 7.7% in 2006.

Verizon’s chief marketing officer Mike Lanman says he expects the new service to be attractive to 13 to 15% of wireless customers.

Currently, Verizon offers basic wireless calling plans that cost anywhere from $40 for 450 minutes to $200 for 6,000 minutes. The company won’t disclose how many of its customers have signed up for its higher-priced plans. AT&T charges similar rates for its basic, individual calling plans. T-Mobile tends to offer slightly cheaper plans, such as a $30 per month service that gives subscribers 300 minutes of airtime.

But $100 a month — payable to either of the three carriers — is a lot of money to shell out for monthly cell phone service, especially since it doesn’t include the price of a data plan. Only T-Mobile’s plan includes text and picture messaging, but even that rate doesn’t include other data services like Web browsing.

Of the four major U.S. carriers, Sprint (S) is the only who hasn’t yet jumped on the unlimited call plan bandwagon. Its shares were down more than 3% during regular trading on Tuesday.