Telecommunications
About the Group
The Telecoms Group advises telecommunications and cable companies on the full range of legal issues which affect them.
The Group is structured on a cross-departmental basis, drawing specialist members from our corporate, competition, information technology, tax, litigation and property groups. This enables the Group to provide legal advice of the highest calibre in an industry-focused manner. The following are examples of the areas of law on which the Group advises:
- Regulatory issues including licensing, interconnection and infrastructure sharing
- Disputes
- Site acquisition and planning law
- Competition law
- EU law and regulation
- Taxation
- Mergers, acquisitions, restructuring, private equity investment, joint ventures and other corporate transactions
The Group represents telecommunications and cable companies ranging from early stage start-ups to multinational corporations.
Representative Transactions
- the €4.5 billion acquisition by Vodafone Group plc of the assets and business of Eircell Limited, Ireland’s largest ever corporate transaction
- the acquisition by British Telecom of Esat Telecom, advising Ocean Communications Limited
- advising both Vivendi and Sonera in relation to bids for Esat Telecom
- a successful application for a 3G mobile telecommunications licence in Ireland
- the sale of Ireland OnLine and PostGEM to Esat Telecom for €146 million
- the acquisition and sale of Switchcom Holdings Limited, an international calling card company
- the negotiation by Telecity of its contract with the Irish government to operate Ireland’s first telehouse