TELECOMMUNICATIONS
The firm has a robust telecommunication practice both in the regulatory sphere and litigation. It has a vast experience in handling telecommunications issues involving in-depth understanding of technical know-how, telecommunications laws and regulatory regimes/rules.
The firm has extensive experience in advising and assisting the Government of India, Department of Telecommunications (licensor) and companies (licensees) operating in communications sector including international carriers, mobile and landline telecom operators, internet service providers, submarine cable operators/ owners, cable landing station operators etc. on complex legal and regulatory issues.
The team advises foreign companies on entry strategy, business options and regulatory structure apart from assisting them in negotiating joint ventures and finalizing related agreements; obtaining foreign investment approvals and relevant telecom licenses from the licensor.
The team advises clients on issues inter-alia relating to routing of calls in and outside India, installation of servers/ nodes, lawful intercept and monitoring requirements, reselling of bandwidth and telecom resources, tariff, license fee/ adjusted gross revenue etc. The team also advises clients on issues pertaining to use and import of telecommunication equipment.
The team has advised submarine cable operators/ owners/ consortium members on legal and regulatory issues connected with submarine cable activities, including but not limited to:
- Indefeasible right to use agreements
- Construction and maintenance agreements
- Cable landing station arrangements and agreements
- Leases and other capacity purchase agreements
- Backhaul contracts, crossing and cable ship agreements.
The team advises clients on the following:
- Telecom licenses such as international and national long distance licenses, internet service provider Licenses, approvals for cable landing station, unified access service licenses etc.
- Telecom tower site acquisition and sharing agreements including sale and lease back agreements;
- Submarine Cable systems and related agreements
- Value Added Services and related agreements
- Agreements relating to procurement of telecom equipment and lease of satellite transponders
- Assistance and agreements for joint ventures, business transfer, mergers and acquisitions etc.
- Interconnection and inter-operator agreements
- Payment of license fee and reselling of telecom resources
- Telecom regulatory issues and representation before the licensor and regulator
TELECOMMUNICATION LITIGATION
The firm has a specialized and dedicated team for telecommunications, broadcasting and media litigation practice dealing with matters before the Telecom Dispute and Settlement Appellate Tribunal, High Courts and Supreme Court of India. The team handles, advises and appears for and on behalf of the Government of India, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Department of Telecommunications, Department of Information Technology; Ministry of Information and Broadcasting; various Public Sector Undertakings and other Telecom companies on matters pertaining to:
- Telecom licenses such as international and national long distance licenses; internet service provider licenses; unified access service licenses etc.
- Inter-connect Usage Charges, Access Deficit Charges, Port charges, Customer Verification Forms
- Spectrum auction and allocation to telecom licensees
- TRAI Regulations on telecommunications, broadcasting and media services
- Telecom services, infrastructure and towers installations provided by the telecom infrastructure companies;
- Regulation of social networking sites on publishing objectionable materials etc.
- Implementation of Control Access System and other cable matters.