SAMDANI QURESHI AQLAAL

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Telecommunications & IT

Telecommunications & IT

The Firm is recognised as a leading law firm in the telecommunications and information technology sectors. Some significant assignments under the Firm’s experience are listed below.

  • Acted for a consortium of international and national solution vendors bidding for a national optic fibre transport and access network project.
  • Acted as Pakistan counsel for the operator for review and negotiation of Frame Supply Contract for acquisition and roll-out of a GSM network.
  • Counsel to the Electronic Government Directorate of the Government of Pakistan for E-Government projects – negotiations and drafting of contracts with vendors and solution providers.
  • Authored country report for a European Commission study on market access barriers in the telecom sector for the EU market access database. The study was commissioned for ten developing countries, including Pakistan.
  • Acted for purchaser of a locally incorporated foreign-owned cellular telecommunications company. Matters dealt with included the applicable legal and regulatory regime on foreign investment in the telecommunications sector, licensing issues, competition law regime and its application to the transaction, and the like.
  • Acted for the project company for contractual negotiations and finalisation of the Contract with PTCL for the first DSL project in Pakistan
  • Advice and documentation on behalf of a major US based transport industry IT solution provider in connection with its presence in Pakistan in relation to a Facilities Management and Information Technology Support Agreement with the national flag carrier.
  • Documentation and advice for the purchase of domestic V-SAT network by PTCL.
  • Led the legal campaign for 16 ISP and one telecom equipment manufacturer challenging the principles applied by the NRA in relation to licensing fee.
  • Regular representations and appearances before the telecom regulator on a diverse range of regulatory matters.
  • Generally, advising telecommunication industry clients concerning various matters, including projects, interconnection agreements, collocation, licensing issues, competition law in its application to transactions in the telecom sector, foreign direct investment, product launches, co-brandings, taxation issues, etc.
  • Represented target entity in a proposed merger of two telecom sector companies licensed by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority with a multi-million-dollar value and prepared and negotiated all the transaction documents, including the CCP-related applications. However, this transaction could not be completed, and the parties backed off just a few days before the execution.
  • Acted as transaction counsel concerning transferring the entire tower business (including the regulated telecom assets) from one PTA-licensed company to another licensed company. The value of assets transferred was approx. PKR 9 billion. This transaction achieved completion on 1 October 2022.