But a trial reviewing whether the venture, to be known as Clearwire, could operate in iPCS regions will still go ahead in Illinois courts, starting December, according to iPCS.

"The stipulation does give some protection to the company in the short term," said a spokesperson for iPCS.

It had asked for the injunction on Nov. 3 ahead of a Clearwire shareholder vote scheduled for Nov. 20. Some analysts see a Sprint purchase of iPCS as the eventual outcome in the companies' longstanding legal battles.

Shares in iPCS were down 33 cents, or 4 percent, at $7.09 in late-afternoon trade on Nasdaq. Sprint stock fell 16 cents, or 7 percent, to $2.14 on New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) Keywords: IPCS SPRINT/ (email: sinead.carew@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646-223-6186)

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The Supreme Court first denied Sprint's petition for leave to appeal the Appellate Court's ruling in September 2008, requiring Sprint to cease owning, operating, and managing the Nextel wireless network in iPCS Wireless's territory. Sprint asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its denial, resulting in the Supreme Court again denying Sprint's motion for leave to appeal the Appellate Court's ruling.

In its ruling, the Illinois Supreme Court ordered that the original 180-day period within which Sprint was required to cease owning, operating and managing the Nextel wireless network in iPCS Wireless's territory be changed to 360 days.

Timothy Yager, president and CEO of iPCS, said: "We are disappointed that Sprint has been given an extra 180 days to comply with its obligations, particularly since the original order was entered in September 2006. Nonetheless, we look forward to Sprint's compliance with the trial court's order and are encouraged that the Illinois courts continue to share our view of the protections afforded by our agreements with Sprint."

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Some analysts expect the legal battles to lead to Sprint buying iPCS. Sprint has already been forced to buy several other affiliates in similar battles.

IPCS said the Clearwire venture, which U.S. regulators are expected to approve on Tuesday, would breach their affiliate agreement because it would involve an entity controlled by Sprint competing with iPCS in regions covered by the agreement.

IPCS said it requested a preliminary injunction against the closing of the deal because a hearing on the case was scheduled for Nov. 21, the day after the company expected Sprint and Clearwire to close their transaction.

Clearwire has scheduled a shareholder vote on the venture for Nov. 20.

In an e-mailed statement, Sprint described the motion as an overreaction and said it believed those issues should be addressed outside the scope of the close of the Clearwire deal.

It also noted the launch of the proposed venture's WiMax high-speed wireless service in iPCS regions is not planned for until "well after a final decision by the court."

But Soleil analyst Todd Rethemeier said the most likely outcome for the dispute was that Sprint would buy iPCS in an all stock deal.

"In terms of the lawsuits all the decisions recently have gone in iPCS's favor," he said. "I think the most likely outcome is an acquisition. They would probably do it with stock because Sprint doesn't have a lot of extra cash."

Also on Tuesday, iPCS said its third-quarter net loss widened to $7.5 million, or 44 cents a share, from $2.4 million, or 14 cents a share, a year earlier as it shouldered lower bad debt recoveries, higher customer service costs and increased roaming expenses.

Rethemeier said the higher customer service costs could be a bad omen for Sprint, which is set to report earnings on Nov. 7 because it handles iPCS customer inquiries and billing.

He said iPCS earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortization and legal costs were about $20 million, well below his estimate for $29 million.

"Customer growth was pretty good, but profitability was a lot lower than people were expecting," Rethemeier said.

IPCS revenue fell to $132.1 million from $142.1 million, even as iPCS added 20,400 new customers, compared with 10,000 net subscriber additions a year earlier. The company said it ended the quarter with 674,400 subscribers.

IPCS shares were down $4.18, or more than 25 percent, at $12.19 in afternoon trading on Nasdaq. Sprint shares were up 24 cents, or 6 percent, at $4.24 on New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Andre Grenon) Keywords: IPCS/SPRINT (sinead.carew@thomsonreuters.com +1-646-223-6186)

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Expected next investor conference call information:
Conference Call Date: 11/4/2008
Conference Call Time: 11:00 AM
Conference Call URL: http://ir.ipcswirelessinc.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=120786&p=IROL-Guestbook&UniqueId=2009525&mp=irol-eventDetails&mpdp=EventId~2009525!WebCastId~810963!StreamId~1213150&pp=IROL-BasicWebCast&ppdp=EventId~2009525!WebCastId~810963!StreamId~1213150&pph=339&ppw=270&rdu=&rdt=&upv=2