US electronics group Motorola has cleared the last hurdle to allow it to pull down satellites orbiting the earth for the bankrupt Iridium mobile phone company, which it backed.

Following a hearing in the US bankruptcy court in New York, the company said Iridium had withdrawn its motion seeking to prevent Motorola from bringing down the satellites.

Motorola wanted to clear the way for bringing down the satellite constellation after another potential buyer for the venture walked away from a bargain-basement price.

Castle Harlan, a New York merchant bank, said it could not justify buying the assets of Iridium for the $50m (E55.05m) price it had considered, because the business could not be counted upon to generate even slight revenue.

However, Motorola will keep the satellites running until today (August 9) to allow for any possible last-minute rescue bids.

Barring a death’s-door white knight suitor to buy Iridium, Motorola is likely to begin lowering the $5 Billion (E5.50 Bn) venture’s satellites out of orbit in two weeks to let them burn up in the earth’s atmosphere. The company declined to give the costs of ending the functional lives of the 66 low-orbit satellites, but said it now would prepare the final schedule for decommissioning.