Dish Gets Canadian Approval for TerreStar Switch
Still Awaits FCC Nod
Mike Farrell -- Multichannel News, 2/7/2012 10:33:24 AM
Dish Network said Tuesday that the Canadian regulatory body Industry Canada has approved the transfer of TerreStar's Canadian wireless spectrum licenses to the satellite giant.
Industry Canada said Tuesday that the switch would be in the public interest as it would increase the wireless spectrum capacity available in the country.
"In granting its approval, Industry Canada reached the conclusion that the transfer would be in the public interest in light of ‘the capacity that would be available in Canada,' among other reasons," Dish said in a statement.
Dish, which is still awaiting the nod from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, said it would immediately close the TerreStar transaction once it receives FCC approval.
The FCC has not made its decision yet, but has been supportive from a policy standpoint of promoting new competitive wireless broadband service to compete with established players, including the hybrid satellite terrestrial proposal from LightSquared.
"Dish believes that immediate Commission approval will be a win for consumers, competition, infrastructure investment, and American jobs," the company said in a statement
Dish agreed to purchase TerreStar out of bankruptcy protection in July for about $1.375 billion. TerreStar controls about 20 MHz of wireless spectrum and coupled with an additional 20 MHz of spectrum controlled by DBSD North America - which Dish agreed to purchase last February for $1.4 billion -- could provide the building blocks for the satellite giant's own hybrid satellite/terrestrial broadband wireless network.
Dish hasn't precisely revealed its plans for the spectrum but has said that it eventually plans to build its own video, voice and high-speed data network, most likely with a partner. In January, as part of a flurry of announcements at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the satellite giant said it had reached a deal with ViaSat to resell a wireless broadband service with speeds up to 12 Megabits per second. That service began to roll out earlier this month.
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