Sprint Nextel Corp., the nation’s No. 3 wireless provider, said Thursday it had closed its deal to buy wireless affiliate IWO Holdings Inc. for $427 million.

Sprint Nextel, based in Reston, Va., with operational headquarters in Overland Park, said this summer it planned to buy the Albany, N.Y.-based company for $219 million in cash and assumption of $208 million in debt.

IWO Holdings provides Sprint-branded services in upstate New York, New Hampshire, Vermont and parts of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

IWO Holdings is the third affiliate that Sprint Nextel has acquired since Sprint Corp. acquired Nextel Communications Inc. in August. All three had raised legal challenges to the merger, but backed off after Sprint Nextel agreed to buy them.

Sprint Nextel remains engaged in a bitter fight with another affiliate, Kirkland, Wash.-based Nextel Partners Inc. Shareholders of Nextel Partners are expected on Monday to trigger a provision forcing Sprint Nextel to buy the affiliate, but neither side can agree how much the asking price should be.