According to media reports, Korean telecom giant SK Telecom may again be looking at purchasing beleagured carrier Sprint Nextel Corp.

According to reports, SK Telecom and Providence Equity last year offered to invest $5 billion into Sprint Nextel at $18.60 per share on the condition that former Nextel Communications Inc. CEO Tim Donahue would rejoin Sprint Nextel. It is unclear whether SK Telecom is just considering another equity investment or a full-on, outright purchase of the carrier.

If so, it may be the right time. Yankee Group analyst Ari Banerjee said Sprint Nextel has been suffering and, because of a recent credit rating cut, he agrees the timing is right.

“It adds fire to the whole speculation that Sprint is not doing very well,” Banerjee said. “[It’s a] good time for it to be taken over by its rival and create a massive entity.”

Banerjee attributed the carrier’s problems to its $35 billion acquisition of Nextel in 2005. He said Nextel came with a “not so great” network that needed to be updated and re-furbished, and the transaction was probably not the best move for Sprint Nextel.

Tom Watts of Cowen & Co. noted Sprint Nextel’s move to spin off its WiMAX venture with Clearwire Corp., and said Sprint Nextel is in need of a next-generation network migration path, “which a partner could help” with.

SK Telecom recently sold off its Helio L.L.C. mobile virtual network operator venture to Virgin Mobile USA Inc. As part of that deal SK Telecom invested $25 million in Virgin Mobile USA and became the second largest stake holder in the MVNO. Both Virgin Mobile and Helio run on Sprint Nextel’s network.

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