At that time, the government denied WorldCom's proposal to acquire Sprint.

Q. What are the consequences for WorldCom if it doesn't acquire Sprint?

Under current laws and regulations, Deutsche Telekom, Germany's main phone company, would probably face few serious hurdles to acquiring Sprint.

For the companies that are seeking to acquire Sprint, however, the impact could be immediate and vast.

The conventional wisdom in the telecommunications industry is that one of the Bell companies will try to acquire Sprint over the next few years.

One rumor is that Deutsche Telekom would actually like to acquire Sprint.

Specifically, Mr. Cleland said that it would make better sense for Verizon to try to acquire Sprint.

According to executives close to Global One, Deutsche Telekom was interested in acquiring Sprint last winter.

Three weeks ago, MCI Worldcom agreed to acquire Sprint in a $115 billion merger.

The tracking stock, however, would not lower another hurdle to acquiring Sprint.