Technology, media and telecommunications

A global technology company

Instructed on the licensing and regulatory framework for landing major international connectivity infrastructure, the firm advised on submarine cable landing licences, the treatment of carrier-neutral data centres, infrastructure-sharing arrangements and the law-enforcement assistance obligations that attach to the cable. Because the landing engaged both the Federal Government and a second Somali jurisdiction, each question had to be resolved twice and reconciled. The advice was structured so that it would hold as the subsidiary regulation under the National Communications Act 2017 continues to develop.

A global satellite communications operator

The firm provided market-entry and regulatory-compliance analysis for a low-earth-orbit satellite broadband service, addressing how the service is licensed under the National Communications Act 2017, how its spectrum co-exists with terrestrial networks, and whether national roaming obligations apply. Where the statutory framework did not map cleanly onto a satellite deployment, the firm identified the gap and proposed a position the regulator could accept, so that the operator could launch on a defensible reading of the licensing regime rather than a contested one.

A sovereign government

The firm acted as co-counsel to a sovereign government in an international commercial arbitration seated in Europe, with roughly 157 million euros in dispute under a public infrastructure contract. Its contribution centred on Somali constitutional and administrative law: whether the contractual commitments in question were validly entered into given the approvals that state institutions are required to give, and what the consequences are when that process is not followed. The work combined close analysis of the domestic legal framework with the practical demands of an international arbitral proceeding.