Dish Network has received signed commitment letters from five banks, according to people familiar with the matter, bringing it closer to arranging $9 billion in committed financing for a planned $25.5 billion acquisition bid for Sprint Nextel. Dish has raised nearly $12 billion for the deal, which will compete with October’s $20.1 billion offer by SoftBank to acquire 70 percent of Sprint. The financing arrives a few days after Sprint agreed to enter into negotiations with Dish.

“Still, Dish hasn’t yet paid any commitment fees on the financing and won’t owe them money unless the loan is drawn down, the people said. Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen had previously said he was reluctant to pay commitment fees for financing until he felt it was ‘the last remaining obstacle’ before Sprint would declare Dish’s offer potentially superior to the one it already has from SoftBank Corp. of Japan,” reports the Wall Street Journal.

“So far, the Sprint board has continued to recommend the SoftBank deal to Sprint’s shareholders, who are set to vote on the deal June 12,” notes the article. “SoftBank has been moving to wrap up the government approval process for its deal and has argued that Sprint shareholders should vote for it in part because it would close faster than a Dish merger.”

SoftBank has already received California approval and has completed the required 23 state reviews. Additionally, the company has been working with federal officials regarding national security implications of the deal.