A T-Mobile IPO?

If there is indeed a fledgling IPO recovery this year, T-Mobile USA may end up being part of it. “Unidentified sources close to the matter” tell The Wall Street Journal that Deutsche Telekom is considering taking its U.S. wireless unit public.

Evidently, the German telecommunications outfit is looking to placate shareholders dismayed by the unit’s performance of late. Not only is T-Mobile trailing far behind rivals like AT&T (T), Verizon Wireless (VZ), and Sprint (S), it’s losing subscribers. In the third quarter of 2009, for example, T-Mobile lost a net 77,000 customers.

Were Deutsche Telekom to move ahead with a T-Mobile IPO, it might be able to raise enough capital to build out its network, improve reception in major markets and start winning back some of the subscribers it has been losing.