SoftBank Corp. (TSE:9984) has entered direct talks with Deutsche Telekom AG (DB:DTE), seeking merger of its Sprint Corporation (NYSE:S) with Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile US, Inc. (NYSE:TMUS), in order to resolve obstacles to a potential deal, reported Bloomberg citing people with knowledge of the matter. While SoftBank has assurances from banks that financing for a deal will be available, an agreement could still take months to reach, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.

Two people said that unresolved issues include how much cash and stock SoftBank will pay for Deutsche Telekom's 67% stake in T-Mobile, and how Sprint and T-Mobile will be integrated. Deutsche Telekom wants an all-cash offer for T-Mobile, which has a market value of about $26 billion, and SoftBank is trying to finance a deal to provide as much cash as possible, one of the people said. Sprint would take on any debt relating to the deal, one person said.

Another person said that Sprint's management isn't controlling deal talks and knows Son will make the decision on whether or not to push ahead with a deal. "Sprint Chief Executive Officer Dan Hesse knew Son wanted to acquire T-Mobile when he agreed to sell SoftBank the majority of the company," the person said. Spokesmen for SoftBank and Deutsche Telekom couldn't be reached to comment.

Bill White, a Sprint spokesman, declined to comment as did Anne Marshall, a spokeswoman for T-Mobile.