Overland Park ? Sprint Corp. plans to decide by early next year whether to move ahead with the sale of its cell-phone towers, which could bring as much as $1.2 billion at auction.

But Sprint, which has about 6,500 towers, declined Wednesday to comment directly on a report in The Wall Street Journal that four firms — including one that owns an extensive stake in Sprint — have made bids for the towers.

Executives at the two firms named by The Journal — Englewood, Colo.-based Liberty Media Corp. and Sarasota, Fla.-based Global Signal Inc. — did not return calls Wednesday.

Liberty Media said earlier this year the company had an interest in buying the towers. Liberty owns $1.9 billion in Sprint stock, which could give the company an inside track in any auction, analysts said.

The Overland Park-based telecommunications company put the towers up for auction as part of a plan to reduce its debt from $15.6 billion to $13 billion by year’s end. Sprint officials have said the towers could bring $200,000 each, or a total of more than $1 billion.

Sprint spokes-man Scott Stoffel said the company was evaluating such a sale, and hoped to make a decision in late December or early next year.

The company said earlier this year that it was considering selling the towers, saying they no longer are “strategic” assets.

R. Clayton Funk, managing director for Kansas City, Mo.-based Nations Media Partners, which handles cell phone tower sales but is not involved in the Sprint sale, said many telecommunications companies, such as BellSouth Corp. and SBC Communications Inc, already have sold their towers.

Sprint shares fell 1 cent to close at $22.42 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.