TELECOMMUNICATIONS

AELEX remains a clear leader when it comes to advising clients in the telecommunications sector. Our team of seasoned experts advise clients on the diverse areas of telecommunications law covering financing, licensing, regulatory compliance, corporate restructuring, mergers & acquisitions and dispute resolution.

We are reputed as being one of the first law firms in Nigeria and Ghana to establish a telecommunications practice group and this has earned us the reputation as a practice that understands the policies, laws and our clients’ businesses.

Our clients include leading telecommunications service providers, mobile network operators, infrastructure owners and investors, technology suppliers and equipment manufacturers and financial institutions.

We offer a solutions-oriented approach to a range of transactions, including acquisitions of rights of way, financing, operations, competition law, complex cross-border M&A and joint ventures, content acquisitions, network sharing and outsourcing, as well as advice on global regulation, disputes, license bids and investment amongst others. We recently acted for an international telecommunications’ company in the USD 1.6 billion acquisition of Nigeria’s then second largest mobile telephone network operator. We are currently acting for a mobile telephone company in the USD1.2 billion non-course financing of its infrastructure roll out. We also acted for a leading mobile telephone company in the resolution of a dispute with a syndicate of 13 banks over the interpretation of loan documents in respect of a multi-billion-dollar financing transaction.

We counsel our different clients on a range of issues which include:

• M&A, including complex transactions, bolt-on acquisitions, strategic joint ventures, partnering arrangements and network sharing
• Privatizations and license auctions
• Regulation and competition, including compliance, challenging regulator decisions, interconnection agreements, rights of access, pricing and bundling
• Telecoms financing transactions
• regulations on software and hardware, licensing issues and approvals
• Telecoms infrastructure transactions including fiber and cable deals and the sale and leaseback of towers
• regulation of online services
• eCommerce, social media and online/mobile payments
• data protection and privacy