USA last year, while Sprint, AT&T and Verizon Wireless all boosted their counts. Consequently, DT may not be pleased with what Sprint may be willing to offer for T-Mobile -- so who knows if this merger will happen. Furthermore, a T-Mobile/Sprint merger might be difficult for technical reasons. Wireless Week noted: T-Mobile currently markets its HSPA + network as 4G but lacks the bandwidth to deploy LTE or WiMAX. Sprint and T-Mobile use different network technology and operate on different spectrum bands, which would complicate a possible merger of the companieswireless services. If T-Mobile hopes to survive intact, it 'll need access to much more bandwidth in more U.S. locations. So if the Sprint merger does n't happen, T-Mobile does have options -- mainly leasing additional spectrum or access to other providersnetworks, such as LightSquared, a wholesale-only wireless LTE network. The opinions expressed in this post are solely those of Amy Gahran.