Verizon Bids For Sprint?

This is getting VERY interesting:

Yesterday, Verizon made an official bid for Sprint in secret. Today, it isn't a secret, so we can report on it. From the limited information available, Verizon, facing a double threat of a Nextel/Sprint merger and a New Cingular, received approval from Vodaphone (who owns a 45% share of Verizon Wireless) to attempt to merge with Sprint.

The combined company would face a tough approval process, having a combined customer base of 65 million. Sources inside Verizon cite a need for a more robust network and Sprint's unified billing and customer service systems as reasons besides increased competition.

Hmm ... SpriZon? As I have direct experience as a customer of both Sprint and Verizon, Sprint's customer support systems (software ... not necessarily the poeple) are vastly superior to Verizon's online account support systems. Heck, while "upgrading" their systems, Verizon thought nothing of denying me access to online account management for approximately two months. To aggravate matters, the "upgraded" system wasn't noticeably better than the original effort.

Update: FoxNews reports (you decide): Verizon Reportedly Not Planning to Bid for Sprint.