Professional Qualifications

Areas of expertise

Telecommunications

• Advised on a range of fibre optic cable network projects in Asia and Europe including construction of subsea and terrestrial networks; financing; M&A transactions; commercial arrangements including tenders, capacity IRUs and leases, backhaul, infrastructure sharing, co-location and telehousing, cable station and marine O&M, landing arrangements; and related regulatory issues
• Advised on commercial and regulatory aspects of numerous mobile/wireless projects including M&A and JVs involving a Wimax network in China, mobile VAS providers in China, and mobile operators in Romania, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan; on a network lease as part of the debt refinancing relating to the acquisition of a Japanese mobile operator; on aspects of the proposed swap out of a 2G network in Malaysia; and advised BellSouth NZ (now Vodafone NZ) on interconnection arrangements, various network and systems procurement arrangements, roaming, customer and supplier contracts, dealer and distribution contracts, and a wide range of telecoms regulatory issues
• Advised on a number of satellite projects including on the RFP for the turnkey design, manufacture and delivery of a Middle Eastern/Asian regional geostationary satellite mobile communications system; and a major satellite and systems manufacturer on the supply and financing of a system of geostationary satellites to a project company in the Russian Federation
• Advised a strategic foreign investor in one of China’s telecoms operators on the acquisition of additional interests in that operator, the impact of the restructuring of the PRC telecoms industry and aspects of the strategic alliance between the two
• Advised on a broad range of regulatory issues in HK, PRC and Singapore including foreign investment in the PRC’s telecoms sector and restrictions on the provision of telecoms services in the PRC; the trading of bandwidth in Hong Kong, Singapore and PRC; toll free services and carrier pre-selection in Singapore and Hong Kong; and Hong Kong’s merger rules, interconnection and facilities access regime, and universal service regime
• Advised on numerous licence applications, concessions and compliance matters under the regimes in Hong Kong, China, parts of the Middle East, Singapore and New Zealand

Information Technology

• Advised a JV established between a leading Bangladeshi bank and its partners on the technical agreements for the roll out a nation-wide ATM and POS network
• Advised a Thai-based operator and manager of hospitals and health care assets in Asia in relation to licensing arrangements for medical diagnostics software
• Advised a leading European gaming company in relation to the IT arrangements underpinning its JV arrangements with the Chinese lottery authority
• Advised an Israeli IT company on its agreement to supply certain mobile payment solutions to an Indonesian mobile operator
• Advised on a number of IT outsourcing arrangements including an international provider of passenger services solutions on its (ultimately unsuccessful) bid to provide such services to a major regional airline, and a European IT and outsourcing services provider on its strategy for entering the market in China and on its service offerings in China
• Advised a number of financial services firms in relation to their Hong Kong and PRC websites and website terms of use, including advising on the law relating to electronic communications, spam, interception of communications, consumer protection, protection of personal data and intellectual property
• Advised British Railways Board over a 15 month period on the IT aspects of its privatisation programme – this included drafting and negotiating licence and sub-licence agreements, escrow and stakeholder arrangements, computer services agreements, software development and exploitation agreements, and an agreement for the administration of the industry’s ticketing and settlement software (including approximately 100 service level agreements)

Media

• Advised an international producer and provider of programming for TV broadcasts on a JV to launch a general entertainment TV channel in India.
• Advised a global provider of imagery on a number of arrangements including its proposed JV in China, standard form agreements for use in China and Hong Kong, and on various promotions and competitions in Hong Kong
• Advised several clients on the restrictions under the broadcasting regulations in Hong Kong on foreign investment and cross-media ownership in respect of a free to air TV programme service providers
• Advised a Hong Kong film production company on the establishment of an entertainment portal including programming and content arrangements
• Conducted multi-jurisdictional surveys for an international entertainment company on foreign ownership restrictions, landing rights, distribution of multi-territory channel feeds, content and advertising requirements

Work history