The cellular provider market in the United States may be shrinking in the very near future if Deutsche Telekom has its way.

Deutsche Telekom (DT), the parent company of T-Mobile, is reported to be looking into the possibility of purchasing Sprint Nextel according to The Daily Telegraph.  Apparently DT has been looking at this possibility for close to a year now, but got serious about it three months ago, and has now gone so far as to start talking to Deutsche Bank about funding.

This is quickly following on the footsteps of the announcement that T-Mobile UK and Orange will be merging over the next 18-months.  Apparently the UK and US divisiongs of DT have been dragging down the overall corporation, and turning these two divisions around has become the primary focus of the company efforts for the moment.

What will this potential merger mean for consumers?  Well, it would end up being a fight for second place in the cellular market between the combined T-Mobile–currently in fourth-place–and Sprint Nextel–currently in third-place–to go up against AT&T which is currently in second-place.  Verizon would still maintain its position as the number one carrier in the USA.

While T-Mobile is smallest of the big four carriers in the United States, overall Deutsche Telekom is one of the biggest carriers in the world.  Hopefully they would leave Sprint alone for the most part, but if it is a full integration, customers may see some improved coverage as the network of towers of both are combined, but beyond that it looks like it would eventually mean Sprint customers would become T-Mobile customers.

Sprint Nextel, Deutsche Telekom and Deutsche Bank are all refusing comment on this story at this time.