International Summer School Telecommunications Law and Regulation

Why you should attend

Negotiating and drafting effective and watertight telecoms contracts on an international level is a highly complex skill. The underlying regulations and the effect that they have on contracts and other commercial agreements can be difficult for even the most equipped in-house lawyer and more often it is not the lawyer in the driving seat.

Commercial managers from all areas of the telecommunications industry are leading negotiations based around complex regulatory issues whilst drafting and managing hugely valuable contracts. Legal counsel and commercial executives must possess the skills and tactics for successful negotiation and the knowledge to ensure that the agreements are within industry laws and regulations. The alternative is the exposure of the organisation to unnecessary risks and potential costly disputes.

Falconbury have developed this unique four-day residential Summer School focused on the unique legal challenges faced by the Telecoms sector to help you deal with these issues.

Who should attend

• In-house counsel
• Heads of legal departments
• Commercial and contract managers
• Business development managers
• Purchasing and procurement managers
• Legal advisors
• Licensing counsel

Why you should invest in this programme

Across four intensive days this residential Summer School will ensure you are fully up-to-date with the latest drafting techniques and commercial opportunities within the Telecoms sector. You will:

• Familiarise yourself with the regulatory framework and other latest developments in the sector
• Review the economics of telecoms regulation as a background to current and developing regulation
• Practice drafting effective watertight contracts to avoid costly dispute in the future
• Explore the key issues of access and interconnection and the legal issues of the latest technologies, including Cloud Computing
• Examine the legal framework for outsourcing communications and facilities management
• Practice your negotiation skills in practical workshops designed to deliver the skills to improve your negotiation success
• Clarify what rights you need to license to exploit content on mobiles
• Get up-to-date with competition laws and understand the effect they have on your agreements
• Grasp the consequences of the impact of convergence
• Find out more about the current issues of IP law and telecommunications

Social Programme

The Summer School provides participants with opportunities to meet other professionals from the global telecoms sector, benefit from their experience and make lasting connections. In addition to the interaction during the seminars, lunches and dinners there will
be optional group activities scheduled.

Participants are given ample free time during the week to enjoy the area. It’s a perfect base from which to explore London, and the many attractions it has to offer, from a stroll down the River Thames, to a West End Show with plenty of shopping within closewalking distance.

There will be a Welcome Dinner scheduled at 1930 on 2 September for those that would like to attend and meet the group before the official registration on the following day. There will be a Falconbury representative on hand throughout the programme to provide help and assistance with all social activities.

Residential Accommodation

Organising your accommodation for trips overseas can often take more time that you have. With this in mind Falconbury have developed a fully residential programme at this luxurious London venue, to ensure you can take full advantage of the learning environment and it’s proximity to London sights during your stay with us.

Accommodation is included for the nights of the 2-5 September 2012. Breakfast lunch and dinner are also included for the duration. If you would like to extend the length of your stay there is an additional charge please contact Falconbury Customer Services on +44 (0)20 7729 6677 for more information.

For those of you that wish to organise your own accommodation, there is a non-residential rate available please see the back page for more details.

Day One

Welcome and Introduction

Developments in the regulatory framework

• EU law: The ‘New Regulatory Framework’
• BEREC initiatives
• The Roaming Regulation
• National development: Market reviews from Ofcom
• International development: Reform of the ITU’s International Telecommunications Regulations

Licensing and authorisation

• Authorisation v license
• Who is the dominant player
• Rights to supply networks, services and equipment
• General obligations and specific requirements
• Codes of conduct/conditions of entitlement
• Licensing obligations

Legal aspects of Spectrum

• Spectrum regulation: ITU, EU and UK
• The Wireless Licence
• 2G and 3G services
• 4G Auction
• Spectrum trading

Enforcement and dispute resolution

• Enforcement
• Arbitration v mediation
• Arbitration
• Other methods
• ADR

PRACTICAL WORKSHOP

Content agreements in the mobile sector

• What rights do you need to license to exploit content on mobile?
• How do you define the technology?
• What are likely to be the contentious issues in negotiations?
• What are the new content models and what legal issues do they raise?
• What law, regulations and codes of practice apply to content when it is exploited on mobile?

Professor Ian Walden, Professor of Information and Communications Law, Centre for Commercial Law Studies, University of London

INTERACTIVE OPEN SESSION

A discussion/question forum focusing on the day’s topics

Leader: Professor Ian Walden

Day Two

• The economic rationale for regulation
• The public interest objectives of regulation and the principles that should be adhered to
• General regulatory toolkit
• Setting controls to protect competition and so indirectly protect end users – protect against unreasonable access charges
• Economic principles for pricing in telecoms – Retain and access
• Cost justifications for pricing
• Demand justifications for pricing
• Regulatory tools for controlling prices and some key considerations for regulators
• Rate of return regulation
• Price caps

Outsourcing

• Scope of services
• Penalties and incentives
• Resolving agreements to agree in the context of change control, technology and other difficult areas
• Limiting liability
• Mandatory injunctions

Building networks

• International law: Space and Law of the Seas
• National laws: Planning laws
• Obtaining and enforcing Code powers
• Negotiating agreements
• Obligations to facility share

Privacy regulations

• The EU Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications
• The EU telecoms reform
• Fundamental rights and freedom of citizens
• Protection against data breaches

Drafting consumer contracts

• An overview of the basics
• Telecoms services: some specifics
• What is best practice?
• Beyond terms and conditions – Selling to consumers
• Regulatory reform

INTERACTIVE OPEN SESSION

A discussion/question forum focusing on the day’s topics

Leader: Professor Ian Walden

Day Three

Competition law

• Characteristics of the sector and relevance to competition law
• Restrictions on agreements in the industry: vertical/horizontal
• Dominance
• The influence of regulators
• Relationship between competition law and IP rights
• Mobile telephones, standards and FRAND

Cloud Computing

• Distinguishing features of Cloud Computing
• What is Cloud Computing?
• How and when is Cloud Computing used?
• Licensing issues
• Security, due diligence and data security issues
• Contractual matters
• Termination and other practical issues

Social media

• The Social Network phenomenon
• Privacy and security challenge
• Brand and reputation issues
• Opportunities and risk

Access and interconnection

• The regulatory regime – Key issues
• Negotiating LU
• Peering and transit agreements
• NGNA
• MVNO’s and mobile network sharing arrangements
• Net neutrality

Submarine cables – Legal issues

• Legal issues of undersea fibreoptic cables
• Agreements for building and maintenance
• Agreements for selling capacity on them

Day Four

PRACTICAL WORKSHOP

Negotiation skills for the telecoms industry
Workshop leader: Rob McGuire

The rise and rise of the negotiator

Nothing exemplifies the modern telecoms company or contractor as much as the growth of joint ventures, sub-contracting and licensing. All of these require the executive to be able to negotiate and, often, to be able to lead others through the negotiation process

• The increase in negotiated relationships
• Technical and commercial skills
• Recognising a negotiation
• Great role models

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

Negotiate and succeed

Working in teams, delegates are asked to resolve a multi-variable, multiparty business problem. The output of the exercise will form the backdrop for the following sessions on structure and influencing.

Structure for control

The research tells us that negotiation success is not related to any single aspect of the complex interactions that take place in any negotiation. However, above all else the party that negotiates best gets the best result. The keys to negotiating well are controlling the negotiation and managing the process

• Control for success: Key planning checklist to negotiate well
• Structure for success: Creating the space to agree
• Trading for success: Understanding relative values

Personal style and negotiation

This session helps us hold a ‘mirror up’ so that participants can reflect on their own style. We look at why other styles irritate us – and how we negotiate with those people we find difficult to deal with.

• Our lead style (and our fall back style)
• The A to E of negotiating styles
• Personal strengths and weaknesses

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

Moving into engagement

Working in teams, delegates are asked to use their knowledge of their own style and those of others in their teams to agree strategies and tips for dealing with other styles and getting the most our of the negotiation.

Influencing and persuasion

It can be argued that the more we can influence someone to our position and the greater agreement we can build, the less we have to give away in our negotiations. This session looks at how people are persuaded and how the expert negotiator can use this knowledge to their benefit

• Persuasion psychology
• The range of levers available
• Focusing your persuasion

Programme leader

Professor Ian Walden is Head of the Institute of Computer and Communications Law and Associate Director of the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary, University of London. Ian teaches on four courses on the University of London ‘s LLM programme: Information technology law, telecommunications law, Internet law and general media law. He is the Course Director for the LLM in computer and communications law by distance learning. Ian has been involved in law reform projects for the World Bank.

Faculty of expert speakers

Rob Bratby is a leading international telecoms and technology lawyer. Rob is Managing Partner of Olswang Asia, a full service (corporate, finance, commercial, IP and arbitration) international law firm based in Singapore serving companies in the telecoms, media and technology industries across the ASEAN region, India and China. Rob’s corporate practice includes advising on mergers, acquisitions, disposals, equity and debt investments and joint ventures with a particular focus on cross-border deals requiring knowledge of the telecoms, technology and media industries. Rob’s commercial practice spans IT and BPO outsourcing transactions, digital and mobile money arrangements, e-commerce and m-commerce, procurement, interconnection, MNVOs, network sharing, roaming, broadcast and transmission arrangements, reseller, customer, distribution and partnering arrangements. Rob’s regulatory practice includes advising on telecoms policy development, compliance, complaints as well as regulatory disputes before national and transnational regulators (such as Ofcom, the Information Commissioner and the European Commission). He has advised on a number of high profile telecoms regulatory disputes at the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

Mike Conradi is a partner in the Technology and Sourcing Group of DLA Piper UK LLP, and is one of the firm’s lead partners on non-contentious telecoms matters. His focus is on providing commercial and regulatory advice to businesses in the sector, and he has a particular interest in regulatory matters, telecoms and IT outsourcing and in telecoms infrastructure projects. He is the editor of the Communications Law Handbook and he is the author of a number of template agreements available. He was also the only private practice lawyer on the legal working group of SubOptic, which drafted a template fibreoptic system supply agreement.

Dai Davis is a technology lawyer and has degrees in physics and computing science. As well as being a solicitor, he is a qualified Chartered Engineer and member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology. Having previously been National Head of Intellectual Property Law and later National Head of Information Technology Law at Eversheds, he is now the principal in his own sole practice Percy Crow Davis & Co. Dai also has considerable experience advising businesses on high-tech product liability, product recall and product safety issues.

Nicholas Highamhas extensive background in technology. He was the lead partner in the telecommunications practice of internationally recognised law firm Denton Wilde Sapte. In his career to date, he has worked with governments and companies in more than fifty countries and on 5 continents and has written laws for six countries and advised national regulators on the successful award of licences in 14 countries. He has worked with the World Bank, the EBRD and US Aid. He is familiar with WTO rules, has expert knowledge of the acquis communautaire of the European Community in the electronic communications sector and regimes in many other regions in the world.

Ann La France leads Squire Sanders’ European and Middle East communications law practice. Drawing on more than 20 years of industry experience, Ann advises clients on telecommunications and media regulation, competition law, merger control, advocacy and dispute resolution, and general commercial and corporate law. She has considerable experience advising on the evolving EU regulatory framework for electronic communications and the pricing of regulated bundles of services, net neutrality, spectrum licensing and re-farming. Ann has expertise in the drafting of legislative and regulatory frameworks to facilitate sector restructuring, liberalisation and privatisation in emerging markets.

Rob Maguire runs his own consultancy and his experience spans the full range of issues from developing an appropriate contract strategy and building a performance dashboard to negotiation and conflict resolution to deal with the inevitable management issues that arise in any long-term relationship. Through his consulting, coaching and mentoring and skills development interactions, he helps major organisations transform their approach to their commercial relationships.

Andrew J. Sharpe is a technology, media and telecommunications lawyer (solicitor) advising on all corporate, commercial and regulatory matters. Described in Chambers & Partners (2012) as “a seasoned veteran of many contractual disputes and has advised on the competition and regulatory climate in African, Caribbean and Middle Eastern jurisdictions.” He specialises in international telecommunications regulatory and commercial expertise, IT/telecoms and business process outsourcing, privacy, data protection and freedom of information matters. Andrew is currently lead lawyer of the LexisPSL Commercial Team – part of the LexisPSL service. He is also an independent consultant.

Pat Treacy is a partner at Bristows, she has specialised in EU law and competition law for more than 20 years and has been involved in several landmark cases at EU and national level. In addition to her expertise across the range of competition law, she has particular strengths in advising on the complex legal and policy issues arising where competition law and intellectual property law intersect. Consequently, clients in high technology sectors particularly TMT seek her advice regularly. Pat represents clients before the competition authorities and the courts, whilst also advising on competition law issues in complex agreements. Pat is a member of the Competition Law Association; the British Institute of International and Comparative Law; and the Solicitors’ European Group. She also teaches the competition law module on the University of Oxford Postgraduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law and Practice course.

Conor Ward is a partner in the London office of Hogan Lovells. He is in the firm’s Computer, Communications and Media Unit practicing exclusively in contentious and non-contentious aspects of computers and communications law; work has included advising in relation to numerous outsourcing transactions including the outsourcing of IT and telecommunications operations, systems development and integration contracts (including call centre development projects) as well as acting for clients in various disputes involving failed development projects.

The Telecoms 'Mini-MBA' On-line Learning Programme

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This course qualifies for the following CPD programmes:

• Solicitors Regulation Authority: 28.00 hours

• Ashurst LLP
• Azercell Telecom LLC
• Communication & Information Technology Commission
• DLA PIPER UK LLP
• e*Message Wireless Information Services France
• Mobily Etihad Etisalat
• Swazi MTN Ltd
• Telecom Namibia Ltd