Clarity in a complex world 

Bird & Bird was selected to perform an EU wide study for the European Commission into the implementation of the Net Neutrality provisions of the EU Telecom Single Market (TSM) Regulation. The study was submitted to the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers together with the evaluation report of the European Commission in 2019 and will be used by the commissions for review of the net neutrality provisions the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation thereof.

Advising on the joint venture between Vodafone and Optus Mobile Pty Limited, both of which undertook the significant roll out of 4G networks across Australia. It involved the negotiation of complex master facilities access agreements with electricity utilities for the use of sites and infrastructure.

We are providing legal advice to OneWeb on the roll out of its global terrestrial network which will support OneWeb’s constellation of over 500 low earth orbiting (LEO) satellites. This unprecedented global initiative aims to deliver high speed broadband and mobile services to all parts of the world. Our role is to coordinate and lead the various stages of the legal advice linked to the terrestrial project, which encompasses legal and regulatory issues unique to these emerging space technologies and realities.

In November 2018 the European Commission confirmed its approval of the merger between T-Mobile Netherlands and Tele2 Netherlands after a six month in depth review. Based on our unparalleled knowledge of and experience in the Dutch telecommunications market, we assisted T-Mobile/Deutsche Telecom in this merger, as an integral part of the wider transaction team, providing competition law and regulatory due diligence support.

A cross border team advised a global software and service provider on telecoms regulatory issues associated with the deployment of a cloud based Internet protocol private branch exchange (“IP-PBX”) solution across multiple countries in Europe and Africa. Our work relates to a very innovative new technology solution that can be deployed across multiple markets and can significantly change the way domestic and international communications’ traffic is handled.

Advising the UK Government on the procurement of the IT and communications services needed to implement the rollout of 53 million smart energy meters across Great Britain, with a value in excess of £2bn. (using a combination of mobile & mesh networks and long range radio). We have also advised the Swedish, Dutch and Italian governments on similar smart meter roll-outs.

Advising Liquid Telecom on the acquisition of East African and Mauritian subsidiaries of Altech. The combination of Liquid’s and Altech’s networks created the African continent’s largest single terrestrial fibre optic network, connecting more African countries than any other single terrestrial network.