Communications & Technology

The dynamic nature of the Communications and Technology industries demands an aggregate institutional knowledge and experience that Paul, Weiss is uniquely equipped to offer. Our ability to deliver sound counsel to our clients is reflected in the firm's range of projects, from traditional regulatory and transactional work in telecommunications and media to representation involving advanced technologies, convergence and the Internet. European Counsel has called the Paul, Weiss communications practice "one of the strongest in Washington."

Our Communications and Technology Group offers a full range of legal services to our clients. We are knowledgeable about U.S. and international regulation of communications and broadcasting and are active in matters before the FCC, other administrative agencies, the Congress, and non-U.S. regulatory bodies. We are sensitive to, and advise clients about, the complex interplay between the regulatory environment and the fast-changing business of communications. Additionally, working closely with the firm’s sophisticated practitioners in other practice areas, we provide advice regarding contractual, tax, securities, litigation and intellectual property matters.

The firm's client list includes both U.S. and foreign telecom service providers, satellite operators, companies involved in the mobile phone business, communications equipment manufacturers, operators of advanced fiber-optic cable systems, cable television companies and networks, producers of television programming, and computer and video hardware and software companies. Paul, Weiss also represents investors in all of these businesses: We advise major investment banks, other financial institutions and private equity investors on a wide range of communications and technology transactions. Our group also has extensive experience in a full range of corporate transactions in the communications infrastructure industry, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, leasing agreements, capital markets and other financings, and corporate restructurings.

We are particularly strong in the satellite, cable and mobile sectors. Paul, Weiss lawyers advised the first applicants for U.S. cellular licenses, and we have been involved in major FCC auctions of PCS spectrum. We have unrivaled experience in the many facets of satellite service, from regulatory approvals to satellite and launch procurement to financing. The firm regularly represents one of the largest U.S. cable television companies on issues arising before the FCC and in the courts.

“This firm has cornered the satellite market in the capital, and also earns praise for its communications and technology practice, which has a strong international presence, particularly in Asia.“
Chambers USA 2009

The Paul, Weiss Communications and Technology Practice is a leader in Asia. We were named TMT Firm of the Year 2009 by Asian-Counsel. We have also been voted as the "IT/Telecommunications Law Firm of the Year" at the Asian Legal Business Awards 2008 in Hong Kong for the eighth time. This award is in recognition of our M&A, private equity and regulatory efforts in the telecommunications and IT sectors. Our knowledge of the regulatory landscape in Greater China is recognized by our peers as being the best and second to none.

Recent representations include:

• Ericsson in its agreement to purchase Nortel Networks’s CDMA and LTE businesses for US$1.13 billion, an acquisition that gives Ericsson a strong technology position in the next generation of wireless networks; Ericsson was announced the winner after a 12-hour bankruptcy auction
  
  
• Intelsat in its contract with Boeing Satellite Co. to build four telecommunications satellites that will refresh and add new capacity to Intelsat’s global satellite fleet; under the contract, the four Boeing-built geostationary satellites will offer capacity optimized to distribute video, network and voice services from Asia and Africa to the Americas and Europe
  
  
• Intelsat in an auction of the in-orbit ProtoStar-1 telecommunications satellite; Intelsat prevailed at the auction with a $210 million all-cash offer, outlasting Eutelsat and more than 10 other satellite operators who expressed interest in the auction
  
  
• New Dawn Satellite Company Ltd., a joint venture controlled by our longstanding client Intelsat (the world's leading provider of fixed satellite services), in connection with the first bank-led non-recourse project financing for the construction and launch of a satellite. The new satellite will offer wireless, broadband and television programming to Africa
  
  
• SES Americom Inc., a large satellite operator headquartered in Luxembourg, and EchoStar Corp. of the United States, in an agreement to co-finance a large direct-broadcast television satellite to be placed in a Mexican orbital slot that both companies have been cultivating for more than three years; the agreement follows the creation of a satellite-television joint venture between EchoStar and MVS Comunicaciones, a Mexican telecommunications company, to launch the Dish Mexico satellite-television service
  
  
• Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited in its joint venture with EchoStar Asia Holdings Corporation to develop and operate a direct-to-home satellite service for subscribers in Taiwan, Hong Kong and other regions in Asia
  
  
• We assisted The Carlyle Group in a share swap transaction between kbro, Co., Ltd. (a leading cable TV operator in Taiwan) and Taiwan Mobile Co., Ltd., worth $1.8 billion; under the terms of the transaction, The Carlyle Group will exchange its holdings in kbro for a 15.5 percent stake in Taiwan Mobile to become the second-largest shareholder in the company, which is Taiwan's leading telecommunications operator
  
  
• Time Warner Inc. and its cable subsidiary, Time Warner Cable Inc., in its successful joint bid with Comcast Corporation to acquire assets of Adelphia Communications Corporation valued at $17 billion, and related transactions redeeming Comcast's 21% stake in Time Warner Cable and swapping with Comcast cable systems serving more than two million customers; we also provide advice on various topics, including retransmission consent, must carry, compulsory copyright, program carriage, set-top boxes, ILEC franchises, franchise fees, universal service, number portability, cable system acquisitions, and home wiring and have filed FCC comments concerning various topics including digital transmission, set-top box regulation and video competition
  
  
• Texas Cable Association in challenging a state franchising statute
  
  
• British Telecommunications, plc, in connection with the acquisition of Comsat International, Inc., a leading provider of data communication services for corporations and public sector organizations in Latin America
  
  
• Intelsat in its $3.2 billion acquisition of PanAmSat and in connection with its agreement to sell the majority of the shares of its parent company, Intelsat Holdings, Ltd., to funds advised by BC Partners and certain other investors in a transaction valuing the company’s equity at approximately $5 billion; the enterprise valuation of the transaction is approximately $16.4 billion.