Should T-Mobile Buy Sprint?

The latest rumor sweeping the wireless world is that T-Mobile's parent, Deutsche Telekom, may acquire troubled U.S. carrier Sprint. Is this really such a good idea?First let's take a look at the rumor:

While DT may see a fire sale bargain in Sprint -- the U.S. carrier is currently trading around $7 a share and the U.S. dollar is weak compared with the euro -- I'm not sure this is the potentially low-cost deal it might appear to be. Unless DT thinks this is the best way for T-Mobile to get more spectrum in the United States, and even then, those licenses will come with a ton of baggage.

Sprint is still recovering from its botched merger with Nextel. Sprint isn't in a great competitive position in the U.S. market, especially compared with T-Mobile, which has been able to leverage its low-cost service to DT's financial benefit.

If T-Mobile suddenly has to deal with Sprint's legacy issues, the carrier could be in for a bumpy ride. AT&T and Verizon Wireless are much better prepared to compete for the U.S. market than a merged Sprint/T-Mobile operation.

In fact, I can't really see what T-Mobile would gain, other than more spectrum. The carrier would have to manage not two, but three different network standards -- Sprint's 3G CDMA network, the legacy Nextel iDEN system, and its own GSM/EDGE network. And T-Mobile would have to do something with Sprint's WiMax operation, XHOM.

As it currently stands, T-Mobile is running a profitable operation (Warning: PDF behind link) and once it finally rolls out 3G, it will be in an even better position. But if T-Mobile suddenly has to manage the mess that is Sprint, things could get ugly fast.

What do you think? Is there any substance to the DT/Sprint rumors? And if so, why?