Sprint Chats Up BellSouth

As telecom merger talks ebb and flow, those predicting imminent action continue to be all wet.

Sprint (FON Quote) has initiated informal discussions exploring a possible hookup with BellSouth (BLS Quote), according to a person familiar with the situation. The development comes out of a Labor Day weekend that featured reports that AT&T (T Quote) was fending off BellSouth's advances.

Sprint and BellSouth have been down this road before, notably when BellSouth threw a $72 billion hail Mary aimed at tripping up the 1999 linkup of Sprint and WorldCom. That deal, of course, was scotched by the feds the next year on antitrust concerns. ...