The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved EchoStar's planned spectrum sales to AT&T and SpaceX.

The combined sales are set to net EchoStar $40 billion following the announcement of the two deals last year.

It should come as little surprise that the FCC has greenlighted the sales, given that the regulator had been pushing EchoStar to use its spectrum or sell it for large parts of the last year.

In total, SpaceX will acquire 65 megahertz of spectrum, while AT&T will snap up 50 megahertz.

EchoStar announced the sales last summer, first announcing its sale of spectrum to AT&T for $23 billion, comprising 30 MHz of nationwide 3.45 GHz mid-band spectrum and approximately 20 MHz of nationwide 600 MHz low-band spectrum.

Barely a fortnight later, EchoStar then sold its AWS-4 (Advanced Wireless Spectrum) and H-block spectrum licenses to SpaceX for $17bn. This spectrum will be used to bolster SpaceX's Starlink D2D offering. As part of this sale, SpaceX will pick up approximately 15 megahertz of unpaired, nationwide AWS-3 spectrum, 40 megahertz of nationwide AWS-4 spectrum, and 10 megahertz of nationwide H-Block spectrum.

AT&T is already utilizing that spectrum after the FCC gave the carrier special authority to make use of the 3.45 GHz spectrum. Within weeks, the spectrum was deployed across 23,000 sites and boosted 5G download speeds by up to 80 percent nationwide.

“As part of our Build America agenda, the FCC is running a two-part play in wireless to free up spectrum: FCC auctions and secondary-market transactions. Today’s approvals, coupled with other secondary-market transactions and FCC auctions already in the pipeline, put America on the path to releasing approximately 300 megahertz of low- and mid-band spectrum by the end of 2027," said Brendan Carr, chairman, FCC.

"Today’s decisions also represent another milestone in the FCC’s concrete plan for securing US leadership in D2D offerings. In the coming months, we will be taking additional actions to ensure that companies that want to innovate in D2D have the regulatory framework and spectrum resources to match. Our decisions also bring important closure that allows stakeholders to focus on the future.”

In the FCC's statement confirming the deal, one of the key reasons the transaction has been approved is due to an agreement between AT&T and EchoStar that will create a hybrid Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) arrangement that "ensures the continued viability of Boost Mobile for the benefit of consumers."

EchoStar's decision to sell off its spectrum assets came after Carr said that the agency would investigate EchoStar's use of 5G spectrum as the company continues its 5G build-out across the US.

The sale of the spectrum has led to a larger fallout for EchoStar, which is embroiled in lawsuits with high-profile tower companies, including American Tower, Crown Castle, and SBA Communications, amid the termination of contractual agreements, which EchoStar claims was because it was pressured to sell the spectrum.

EchoStar has argued that it was forced to default on payments, citing "force majeure." Several companies, including Astound Broadband, dispute this.

The company's CEO, Charlie Ergen, noted earlier this year that the company had privately settled “hundreds of contracts” with other companies, including with a “large tower company,” but didn't specify which company.