South Korea's top carrier in talks to buy Sprint-report

South Korea's SK Telecom is in talks to buy struggling US wireless carrier Sprint Nextel, business news channel CNBC said.

An Associated Press report further quoted CNBC saying an agreement would be at best weeks away.

Share of both SK Telecom and Sprint also rose on the news, the report said. Sprint spokesman James Fisher had no comment on the report.

No SK Telecom representatives were available in the early morning hours, Korean time. CNBC reported that private-equity firms would provide financing for the deal, since SK Telecom's market value is about half of Sprint's €14.2 billion (US$22.6 billion).