Verizon still has a crush on Sprint

Sounds like Verizon is kicking the tires on Sprint—again. Before
Sprint and Nextel signed their merger deal back in December there was plenty of speculation that Verizon was going to get in there and snap up Sprint, and now with the recent SBC/AT&T deal everyone seems to think the heat is on Verizon to do something to prove they're still a player. So Verizon and Sprint aren't actually, you know, talking or anything like that, but Scott Moritz over at The Street says that sources close to Verizon admit that they are definitely going over Sprint's finances to see whether a mega-merger makes sense. Doesn't seem likely to happen anytime soon—the Feds would probably hassle Verizon and Sprint about joining forces even more than they hassled Cingular and AT&T Wireless—but we're pretty much going to have to get used to hearing rumors about how Verizon is fixing to buy Sprint (or Sprint-Nextel or whatever) until one of them buys the other or someone goes out of business, ok? Seriously, have you ever noticed the sexual tension between those two companies? It's intense. Stay away at any party they're both at, especially one with an open bar.

[Via GigaOm]