(Bloomberg/Michelle F. Davis, Reshmi Basu, Kelcee Griffis and Dinesh Nair) — SpaceX, the Elon Musk-backed company that owns the Starlink satellite internet network, agreed to acquire wireless spectrum from EchoStar Corp. for about $17 billion, allowing Charlie Ergen’s beleaguered telecommunications company to resolve an overhanging regulatory probe and pay down debt.

SpaceX is buying EchoStar’s AWS-4 and H-block spectrum licenses designated for satellite and mobile communications according to a statement Monday, confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report. It will pay as much as $8.5 billion in cash and up to $8.5 billion in SpaceX stock. SpaceX has also agreed to fund a total of about $2 billion in cash interest payments on EchoStar debt through November 2027.

Shares of EchoStar rose as

See Full Page