The U.S. bankruptcy courts previously authorized TerreStar and DBSD, which also was acquired by Echostar, to sell their spectrum licenses to Dish Network in mid-2011.

   Dish Network said it is now prepared to close both transactions upon receiving U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval of the license transfers and associated waiver requests. The company has already received regulatory approval in Canada.

   “With these approvals, Dish would immediately begin the design and construction planning for the nation’s first 100 percent LTE network. The requested waivers are necessary, among other things, to remove an outdated requirement for every handset to have the capability to establish a communications link to a satellite. The waiver of this requirement will allow Dish to provide more meaningful competition and greater choice for wireless consumers,” Dish Network said in a company statement.