KANSAS CITY, MO. - Sprint Nextel Corp. is considering spinning off or selling Nextel, and Deutsche Telekom AG was investigating a bid to buy the struggling wireless provider.

The Wall Street Journal reported deliberations between Sprint Nextel and Germany's Deutsche Telekom, the parent company of No. 4 wireless company T-Mobile.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that Cyren Call, a McLean, Va., company founded by Nextel founder Morgan O'Brien, was trying to assemble a consortium of investors to acquire Nextel, saying it would be part of a plan to create a nationwide wireless network for public safety communications.

Shedding Nextel, acquired for about $35 billion in 2005, might help make Sprint a more attractive acquisition target.

"It would simplify a purchase of Sprint by Deutsche Telekom," analyst Chris Larsen of Credit Suisse in New York told Bloomberg News.