According to a Dow Jones Newswire report, Sprint is apparently open to the idea of selling the popular Apple iPhone's 4G LTE version, whenever the company comes up with a handset that runs the newest cellular technology.

Going by the report, Sprint's chief financial officer Joe Euteneuer has revealed that the third-ranking US carrier may possibly sell a 4G LTE iPhone, though he refrained from disclosing as to whether Apple has any plans underway to manufacture such a handset.

Revealing that the contract which Sprint has inked with Apple for the sale of the iPhone is fairly akin to the one which has been signed by its bigger rivals AT&T and Verizon, Euteneuer said that Sprint will be prepared to sell a 4G LTE iPhone when such a handset is launched by Apple.

Though Apple has a precedence of debuting its new iPhone in summer and fall, it has thus far not made any announcement about when the new iPhone iteration will be released, and whether it will be a 4G LTE model or not.

Meanwhile, despite the fact that Sprint currently offers only 4G WiMax service, and not LTE service, the carrier has already said in an earlier announcement that it intends launching its new high-speed 4G network by around mid-2012 in some selected cities.

About Sprint's 4G LTE build-out plans, Euteneuer said: "If you make the assumption that they (Apple) launch a device at a similar time that they did last year, you're basically done with the major markets."