The communications sector has been an important area of focus for Bird & Bird since the 1980s when European telecommunications industries began to be liberalised and privatised. Today, we have one of the largest multi-jurisdiction teams of lawyers dedicated to the communications sector of any law firm in the world. We are recognised as market leaders and several of the partners in the Group are seen by the industry to be outstanding practitioners in the field, working closely with other partners who are also recognised leaders in vital areas such as the ownership and exploitation of intellectual property. We spend a great deal of time analysing the sector, anticipating trends and assessing where we can and should influence the sector’s growth.

We provide an extensive range of corporate, commercial, regulatory and dispute resolution advice to businesses involved in telecommunications, broadcasting and on-line services around the world. Our clients range from domestic and international suppliers through to major financial institutions and users. 

Many of the corporate and commercial transactions in which we are involved require us to provide advice on both national and international legal, regulatory and licensing issues surrounding the provision of telecommunications services and infrastructure in Europe, Asia and elsewhere.

The Communications Group has a substantial track record of advising on:

• strategic joint ventures relating to fixed, mobile and satellite communications
  
  
• consortium agreements for joint licence bidding activities
  
  
• syndicated loan facilities, vendor financing, sale and leaseback structures and receivables financing
  
  
• mergers and acquisitions, privatisations and IPOs
  
  
• communications infrastructure projects
  
  
• equipment procurement arrangements
  
  
• project finance
  
  
• commercial arrangements for mobile operators including infrastructure sharing arrangements, roaming, services and MVNO agreements
  
  
• submarine cable systems and related agreements such as Landing Site and Crossing Agreements
  
  
• network build agreements (fibre, fibre swaps, ducts and capacity)
  
  
• significant outsourcing and facilities management agreements
  
  
• business driven regulatory advice and strategy guidance
  
  
• interconnect agreements and access agreements to incumbent and high bandwidth networks
  
  
• broadcasting, conditional access and access control
  
  
• media, content and on-line services
  
  
• service provider arrangements
  
  
• satellite contracts and regulation
  
  
• real estate advice including site acquisition and management agreements, co-location agreements and agreements relating to switch centres and repeater stations
  
  
• tax advice relating to the optimisation of structural alternatives, implementation issues and on-going compliance matters
  
  
• communications specific dispute resolution advice