According to sources quoted in The Wall Street Journal, the United States’ third-largest carrier is thinking about making a bid for the nation’s fourth-largest.

Sources “familiar with the matter” say that Sprint is weighing the possibility of making a play on T-Mobile that could take place as early as the first half of 2014, and which could be as costly as $20 billion.

Of course, any such merger would be met with vigorous antitrust questions. If this were to happen, the U.S. would be left with only three major carriers (AT&T and Verizon).

From the WSJ:

Sprint hasn’t yet decided whether to move ahead with a bid. Going forward despite regulators’ concerns would be highly risky. Any pursuit of a bid by Sprint could be aimed at testing antitrust officials’ reaction to a deal, and a bad reaction could put an end to the effort.

As you probably recall, AT&T’s bid to acquire T-Mobile failed back in December of 2011 after regulatory opposition.

T-Mobile shares have already jumped on news of the possible deal.

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