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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N) is considering a sale of the Nextel wireless network it bought in 2005, but may be in possession of trouble finding a buyer for an asset whose value has plunged about 80 percent to an estimated $5 billion.

Sprint has struggled to integrate Nextel's iDen network, used by public safety and construction workers, with its own services and has ruined millions of customers since paying about $35 billion for Nextel Communications three years agone.

Any buyer would find it tough to mishap the now-completed integration of the iDen business, including its billing, broadcast towers and customer service, analysts say.

"They spent the last few years trying to integrate it," said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Chris King. "There are a lot of questions that a buyer and the government would have to hold."

Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. mobile service, already faces pressure from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to relinquish a key chunk of iDen wireless airwaves for emergency communications networks.

About 14.6 million subscribers, or 28 percent of Sprint's total 51.9 million customers, were exclusively using the iDen network at the end of the second quarter. Another 1.7 million used phones working on both iDen and CDMA networks.

Sprint said in a regulatory filing this week that it was exploring alternatives for iDen that include "improving operations, making additional investments, entering into strategic partnerships and considering potential divestitures."

CNBC said on Friday that Latin American service provider NII Holdings Inc (NIHD.O), which uses iDen technology, or private equity investors may be prejudiced in the network.

Sprint shares rose 7.7 percent, also helped by its surprise decision on Thursday to cancel a $3 billion convertible share sale that had been unpopular with shareholders.

Sprint and NII, whose shares fell 0.25 percent, were not immediately available for annotate.

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Analysts said it made sense for money-losing Sprint to look for ways to improve its finances, even though it does not face an imminent liquidity crisis. Sprint ended the second quarter with $23 billion debt, and cash and marketable securities of $3.5 billion.

"Every piece of the trade is for sale at a certain excellence right now inasmuch as they continue to labor," said King.

But he noted that an investment in the iDen network, rather than an outright purchase, could make more sense for NII, which operates in countries such as Mexico and Brazil that have faster wireless growth rates than the United States.

The iDen network has faced technical issues that Sprint says it has fixed, but the network's customer cancellations have been exacerbated by the weakening U.S. economy. In the fourth quarter, Sprint took an impairment charge of $29.7 billion to write off the majority of the value of Nextel.

Stanford Group analyst Michael Nelson questioned whether Sprint would be able to find a private justice buyer in such a tough credit market.

"Even if they want to sell iDen I don't think there's a buyer," Nelson said.

Pali Capital analyst Walter Piecyk said in research note that Sprint could attract multiple bidders willing to pay $5 billion or less for the network, without naming suitors.

(Additional reporting by Jessica Hall in Philadelphia, Editing by Derek Caney)