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BY EVAN THOMAS AND JIM FLINK Deutsche Telekom has a new plan for T-Mobile USA — this time, hoping to repackage it in a merger with MetroPCS Communications Inc. Bloomberg broke the story and reports, DT is proposing a stock-swap transaction which would give the German company control over the combined entity. "Europe's second-biggest phone company ... wants to bolster the business's ability to gain size and customers ... T-Mobile USA has cut jobs and stepped up investments in faster networks as it tries to stop a flight of contract subscribers to rivals. ... Combining with a smaller player 'isn't really the option they prefer, but they don't really have a choice...'" That's a reference to the failed sale last year of T-Mobile to AT&T — a deal scuttled by regulators. And while it isn't a first choice, VentureBeat says, this just might work. "DT would have an easier time passing a merger between T-Mobile and MetroPCS through U.S. regulators .. As the fourth and fifth-place U.S. wireless carriers, a merger wouldn't have the monopoly concerns that the AT&T deal did ..." A Fox Business analyst looks at the possibilities. "This would give Deutsche Telekom some options, especially with Metro PCS, which is a customer-losing business, not really going very well." T-Mobile stands to get more than a few subscribers out of the deal, says CNET. "MetroPCS could also contribute a small bump in customers. With T-Mobile so heavily in the prepaid business already, adding MetroPCS would work on a business level." GigaOM isn't so sure, noting, this is like running two different businesses under one roof. "Mergers are supposed to be about 'synergies' and economies of scale. T-Mobile would have to sell separate handset portfolios. It would have to maintain two separate sets of networks. The only thing the T-Mobile has in common with Metro is an LTE network in the same spectrum band."