Expertise
"Above any other top-tier corporate firm, we choose this team for their proven industry experience, legal knowledge and, above all else, their commercial acumen and ability to deliver advice that is understandable and digestible by the business." The Legal 500, 2022
For many years, Matheson has consistently worked on the most complex and high-profile Irish telecoms matters and we take pride in being the ‘go-to’ experts in the key sector of the Irish economy.
Matheson's Telecoms Group is consistently recognised by international legal directories as a leading advisor to telecoms operators in Ireland. Having acted on all major transactions, regulatory approval applications, Court cases and regulatory investigations / adjudication processes involving Irish telecoms operators for many years, the Group offers clients legal advice of the highest calibre which is informed by deep industry expertise.
Our cross-departmental team is the largest in Ireland. We have specialists in every practice area who frequently work on telecoms matters and therefore we offer industry expertise as well as practice area expertise to telecoms clients.
Our Team
- Kate McKenna
- Anne-Marie Bohan
- George Brady
- Michael Byrne
- Joe Duffy
- Nicola Dunleavy
- Garret Farrelly
- Patrick Spicer
Advice on Compliance with Regulatory Obligations
- Advising Three, Ireland's largest mobile operator, on ensuring compliance with regulatory obligations.
- Advising Sky, a leading broadband provider and mobile operator, on ensuring compliance with regulatory obligations.
- Advising Virgin Media / Liberty Global, a leading broadband and mobile operator, on ensuring compliance with regulatory obligations.
- Advising Speed Fibre Group, operator of a State-sponsored fibre network and commercial wholesale and retail broadband businesses, on ensuring compliance with regulatory obligations.
- Advising a spacecraft manufacturer on the Irish, EU and US regulatory and licencing requirements surrounding the launch of its latest satellite constellation as well as advising on the launch of its satellite broadband services in Ireland and elsewhere in the EU.
- Advising manufacturers of high-performance luxury cars on all its telecoms and infrastructure projects in Ireland including innovative in-built vehicle technologies and products such as emergency calling services and electronic SIM cards.
- Advising all clients on the implementation and implications of fundamentally important EU laws including the Roaming Regulation, the European Electronic Communications Code and the Network and Information Systems 2.0 Directive.
- Advising all clients on interacting with the licensing regime in Ireland, including in respect of regulatory obligations under ComReg's General Authorisation (GA), Fixed Wireless Access Local Area (FWALA), Premium Rate Service (PRS) and other sector specific licences.
Regulatory Appeals and Enforcement
- Advising Three on its Court challenge of ComReg's 5G spectrum auction rules (which ComReg remarked as being "the most important decision it has ever made"), including obtaining a Court ordered halt ('stay') to the auction process.
- Advising Sky and Vodafone as notice parties in an appeal of ComReg's most recent wholesale broadband access price control decision, including successfully resisting an application to 'stay' the regulatory decision being challenged pending determination of the appeal.
- Advising Virgin Media on its defence of ComReg's High Court litigation and other enforcement actions relating to its terms and conditions for contract cancellation.
Transactions
- Advising Cellnex on the sale of its Irish towers business to Phoenix, involving a Phase 2 review by the Irish competition authority.
- Advising AMP Capital on its acquisition of enet in a two-stage process involving separate transactions.
- Advising the Speed Fibre Group on the acquisition of Magnet+ and the restructuring of the group.
- Advising Three on its acquisition of communications provider Telefónica Ireland / O2 Ireland, following a Phase 2 competition law investigation by the European Commission.
- Fibre Roll-Out Joint Ventures: Advising a number of bidders on the joint venture acquisition of eir's fibre business and the successful bidder in the acquisition of National Broadband Ireland.
- Telecoms Towers Spin-Outs: Advising Three on the sale of its Irish towers business and on putting in place commercial agreements with the new owner; advising bidders for the Vantage Towers Irish business; advising bidders and sellers of the Towercom Irish towers business.
- Advising MVNOs, including Postfone, on putting in place MVNO agreements with network operators.
- Advising Sky and ViacomCBS on obtaining Irish media merger approval for the joint venture launch of Paramount+ in Europe.