Overland Park ? It’s one step forward and one step back for Sprint Corp. as it deals with a mutiny from its affiliates angry over its pending acquisition of Nextel Communications Inc.

Sprint on Friday said it had reached an agreement that would end litigation from affiliate iPCS Inc.

But Overland Park-based Sprint also said affiliate Enterprise PCS had filed a lawsuit – the fifth from affiliates so far – claiming, like other affiliates, that the merger would allow Sprint to operate and sell Nextel services in its territories, violating exclusivity agreements it made with Sprint in the late 1990s.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Sprint said the “forbearance agreement” with iPCS Inc. and its subsidiaries, iPCS Wireless Inc., Horizon Personal Communications Inc. and Bright Personal Communications Services Inc., would limit Sprint’s operations in those affiliates’ territories.

In particular, Sprint promises not to market Nextel-branded products in those areas and would prohibit its own marketing and operations personnel from viewing proprietary information filed with Sprint from those affiliates.

In return, iPCS has agreed to withdraw its request for an injunction and other litigation currently filed in an Illinois court. Sprint said Cook County Circuit Judge Thomas Quinn had lifted a temporary restraining order preventing Sprint from sharing some information with Reston, Va.-based Nextel.

According to the SEC filing, the agreement will end no later than Jan. 1.

Sprint spokesman Nick Sweers said the agreement “gets us over the hump” of litigation challenging the merger and gives both sides time to negotiate a long-term solution to the iPCS management agreement with Sprint.

In the same securities filing, Sprint said Enterprise PCS and its subsidiaries filed suit against Sprint on Thursday in federal court in Columbus, Ga. That suit asks for the court to prevent Sprint from operating in Enterprise’s territory.

Sweers said Sprint was in discussions with Enterprise and other affiliates over what role they would play after the merger but that the company doesn’t believe the suits would effect the merger’s timing.

Besides Enterprise and iPCS, Sprint has been sued by affiliates U.S. Unwired, UbiquiTel and Gulf Coast Wireless.

Sprint announced earlier this month it plans to buy U.S. Unwired for $1.3 billion. That acquisition still requires regulatory approval.

Shares of Sprint were up 61 cents at $27.03 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, where it has traded in a 52-week range of $17.80 to $26.75.