With the T-Mobile USA/MetroPCS Communications' merger likely to offer substantial competition to the three other bigwig US wireless carriers - AT&T, Verizon and Sprint -, unidentified sources revealed on Thursday that Sprint is apparently weighing a rival bid for MetroPCS.

The disclosure about Sprint's intentions comes close on the heels of the Wednesday announcement by T-Mobile's German parent company - Deutsche Telekom - that it has worked out a merger between T-Mobile and MetroPCS --- the fourth- and fifth-ranking US carriers respectively.

Since Sprint - the No. 3 wireless carrier in the US - already came quite close to a MetroPCS acquisition for nearly $8 billion in February, sources have now revealed that Sprint is currently considering two possibilities with regard to a MetroPCS bid --- either going public with a bid for MetroPCS straightaway; or waiting to bid for the merged company, in which a 76 percent stake will be owned by Deutsche Telekom.

In the opinion of some analysts, it is quite possible that Sprint may offer a much more fetching offer to MetroPCS, as compared to the T-Mobile agreement. However, a few analysts opine that a Sprint/MetroPCS/T-Mobile merger may be opposed by the regulators.

With Pacific Crest analyst Michael Bowen noting that Sprint's acquisition of a combined T-Mobile and MetroPCS will probably get the go-ahead from the regulators, Justice Department veteran David Smutny - presently with the law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe - said: "If there were a deal between the three of them, it's possible that would be a problem overall."