AT&T said Tuesday it will purchase key wireless spectrum licenses from EchoStar for about $23 billion, as the telecom provider seeks to boost its network in a competitive market. In June, President Trump prodded satellite communications and Dish TV parent EchoStar and Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr to reach an amicable deal over the fate of the company’s wireless spectrum licenses,

Shares in EchoStar, the US telecommunications group whose slow progress building its mobile phone network attracted criticism from the Trump administration, soared to a record high after agreeing a $23bn deal to sell a large collection of wireless spectrum licences to rival AT&T.