Andy Abramson points out a CNN Money article that speculates that Vonage’s stagnant IPO is a sign that it may be looking to be bought out, rather than go public:

But can Vonage parlay its increased consumer exposure into a lucrative initial public offering? Or is the company, which is hemorrhaging money, actually trying to shop itself to a larger telecom firm?

Vonage filed to go public nearly two months ago but it has yet to file any amended registration statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That’s an unusually long time between filings and has led some telecom industry observers to speculate about whether Vonage might be looking to sell out instead.

"I think they are looking for a buyer. Going public is something in their back pocket," said Greg Gorbatenko, an analyst with Jackson Securities, a research firm based in Chicago.

But Abramson disagrees with the article’s take on who might be interested in buying out Vonage:

The author suggests Sprint, Qwest or Verizon, but I’m thinking more of someone like a T-Mobile who wants a ground game to compliment their air game. Rumors out of Seattle describe a new service that T-Mobile is trialing dubbed something like T-Mobile at home that delivers IP based telephony to users of their mobile phone service.

In my mind this is the best possible link up. T-Mobile has the money. Both companies market to similar "value" oriented customers. Neither is selling services that are at the bleeding edge of what telephony technology can offer, but both offer a solid, service. From T-Mobile Vonage would pick up a solid and very respected customer service team as well as retail store front distribution via both company owned and independent retailers. Additionally, T-Mobile Hotspots could provide Vonage and T-Mobile the ability to deploy rapidly emerging dual mode handsets that combine 3G/GSM/GPRS and WiFi resulting in a more economical model.

Abramson’s reasoning is sound in terms of why Vonage and T-Mobile would be a good fit.  But can this overcome the thirst the likes of Sprint and Verizon undoubtably have to stay ahead of threat that VoIP service poses to traditional wireline and wireless telephony revenues?