Sprint has agreed to sell 70% of the company to SoftBank, a Japanese telco, for $20.1 billion, part of which will be an $8 billion cash infusion to pay for Sprint’s lagging 4G LTE build-out. But will it solve Sprint’s problems? It has a lot of catching up to do, and it’s current unlimited data policy will be a financial burden that could be unsustainable. Time will tell.

The stock trading will likely not occur until mid-2013, if it receives regulatory approval. Reactions to the foreign purchase of Sprint are being awaited in the wake of the US Congressional Intelligence Committee’s recent advisory against US companies doing business with Chinese telecom giants, Huawei and ZTE. More info