Last week, a rumor claimed that Sprint may be planning to make a counter bid for MetroPCS in an attempt to snatch the carrier away from its merger with T-Mobile. Now it looks like Hesse and Co. may be backing off, at least for the time being. A source speaking to Bloomberg says that Sprint has decided to put a hold on its plans, as the company's board would like to see filings on the structure of the deal from Deutsche Telekom before proceeding with an offer. Such filings usually come out a month or two after the agreement is announced. It's said that Sprint could have as much as three months to make a bid, as MetroPCS's investors must still vote on its T-Mobile deal.
Sprint has been rumored to be interested in MetroPCS in the past, with a report from back in February alleging that the Now Network nearly dropped $8 billion for Metro before its board gave the deal the axe. Considering both that and the fact that MetroPCS combining with T-Mobile would bring the latter carrier closer to Sprint in the horse race that is the top four U.S. operators, it's not too surprising to hear that Sprint may still have a bit of interest in MetroPCS. Now we just need to wait and see if Sprint actually pulls the trigger on a counter offer.