TAMPA, Fla. — The Federal Communications Commission has dropped investigations into EchoStar as the satellite operator moves to sell spectrum to SpaceX and AT&T in deals totalling more than $40 billion.

EchoStar said Sept. 9 it had received a letter yesterday from FCC chair Brendan Carr, dismissing probes into the company’s 5G buildout obligations and use of terrestrial and Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) AWS-4 spectrum.

The regulator launched the investigations in May, following claims by SpaceX and others that EchoStar had failed to meet 5G network deployment conditions and was leaving valuable frequencies idle.

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