Practices

Telecommunications

As the telecommunications industry has diversified, consolidated and become increasingly global, Cleary Gottlieb has used its cross-border expertise to help clients move their business forward. With a network of 12 integrated offices on three continents, Cleary Gottlieb has a deep understanding of transactions involving multiple jurisdictions with differing regulatory requirements. Given the wide range of telecommunications work that we do, lawyers from all corporate transactional areas as well as from the intellectual property, restructuring and litigation practices regularly assist industry clients.

Practice Highlights

What Others Say About Our Practice

Selected Experience

Counsel to TPG and Goldman Sachs in their $27.5 billion acquisition of Alltel—the largest-ever LBO in the telecommunications industry.
Counsel to América Móvil in acquisition of Verizon’s $3.7 billion interest in telecommunications companies in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela.
Counsel to T-Mobile in $2.4 billion SunCom acquisition.
Counsel to American Tower, the largest mobile tower company in the United States, in a series of debt offerings and financing transactions.
Longstanding counsel to Deutsche Telekom in a series of debt and equity financings.
Counsel to Nokia, Texas Instruments and Broadcom on questions of 3G mobile standardization and licensing and related litigation in the European Union and United States against Qualcomm.
Counsel to the French Treasury on State aid issues relating to the financial restructuring of France Télécom.
Counsel to Telecom Italia in landmark victories against Vodafone in both the Court of Rome and in Milan Arbitration Court, preventing Vodafone from providing fixed-to-mobile number portability to customers.
Counsel to KDDI Deutschland, a German subsidiary of one of Japan's largest mobile telecommunications companies, in its victory in German Appeals Court regarding a shareholder litigation.

Telecom Deal of the Year
(TPG & GS Capital Partners' acquisition of Alltel)
Investment Dealers Digest (2007)

Best Local Currency Deal
(América Móvil’s 8 billion peso 2036 Offering)
LatinFinance (2007)

Domestic M&A Deal of the Year
(Embratel’s acquisition of Telmex Do Brasil and stake in Net Serviços de Comunição)
Latin Finance (2006)

“‘Involved in cutting-edge issues across the board in TMT [technology, media and telecommunications].’”
Chambers Global (2008)

“The firm boasts a long history representing Indian clients in the telecoms, pharmaceuticals and engineering sectors as well as advising foreign clients investing in India.”
Chambers Asia (2008)

“This especially large TMT group is renowned for its ‘tenacious approach and thorough teamwork,’ and can offer advice and litigation services in a wide range of areas, from digital signature issues to domain names, e-contracts and telecoms matters.”
Chambers Global (2007)
“Clients believe [Cleary's] ‘astute’ lawyers ‘provide thorough analyses of the issues’ and are ‘excellent for complicated and strategic cases.’”
Chambers Europe (2008)

Telecommunications

Selected Experience

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