Telecommunications

Deacons has a practical and commercial appreciation of the implications of regulatory reforms and technological advances in the dynamic telecommunications sector and has a demonstrated capacity to act on a wide range of matters.

We specialise and have experience in all aspects of the telecommunications and communications industry in Australia including:

• liaison with regulators and industry bodies such as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Australian Communications Authority, the Department of Communications, IT and the Arts and the Australian Communications Industry Forum
• advising on carrier rights and obligations particularly in relation to the installation and maintenance of telecommunications facilities and land and infrastructure access issues
• access and interconnection to broadband and wireless networks and facilities
• negotiating wholesale and retail agreements including capacity service agreements and key customer supply agreements
• telecommunications and radiocommunications licensing issues including compliance and enforcement of access rights and obligations
• advising on environmental, planning and property law issues relating to “trunk” infrastructure including fibre-optic cables and microwave networks
• advising on project financing
• advising financiers, acquirers and sellers in relation to the sale of telecommunications assets, and
• conducting IPOs and other legal work for players in the new media

• Legal update: New .au Domain Name Transfer Policy from 1 June 2008

  In last month’s Legal Update on Upcoming Changes to .au Domain Name Transfer Policy we noted that the Australian domain name administrator (auDA) had approved an implementation plan for a new policy on the transfer on .au domain name licences. auDA has now confirmed that the new policy will take effect on 1 June 2008.

  18 Apr 08 Michael Park

• Legal update: New Guidance Note issued by the Takeovers Panel on equity derivatives

  On 11 April 2008, the Takeovers Panel (Panel) released Guidance Note 20 - Equity Derivatives (Guidance Note) outlining when, and in what circumstances, the use of equity derivatives may constitute unacceptable circumstances and require disclosure to the market.

  17 Apr 08 Robert Sultan, Shane Bilardi , Natalie Trezise

• Legal update: Upcoming changes to .au domain name transfer policy

  The Australian domain name administrator (auDA) recently announced that it has approved an implementation plan for a new policy on the transfer of .au domain names licences. (It is the exclusive licence to use the domain name that is transferred, rather than ownership of the domain name itself.) This announcement follows auDA’s earlier acceptance of the recommendation from the 2007 Names Policy Panel that the current policy be relaxed to allow a registrant to transfer its domain names for any reason.

  27 Mar 08 Michael Park , Ka-Chi Cheung

• Legal update: Market volatility - ASX and ASIC respond

  Sensing a growing controversy, the ASX and ASIC have issued a number of media releases in response to market concerns, reminding market participants of laws designed to protect the integrity of markets. This update discusses the ASX and ASIC statements in light of the current apparent market volatility.

  17 Mar 08 Tim Woodforde

• Legal update: ACCC releases new draft merger guidelines

  The ACCC recently published its 2008 Draft Merger Guidelines for consultation. These guidelines are intended to provide an explanation of the framework the ACCC will apply when considering whether a merger or a proposed merger could substantially lessen competition in a market. Guidelines such as these issued by the ACCC from time to time, provide a useful overview of polices and procedures applied by the ACCC when reviewing proposed mergers.

  4 Mar 08 Jyoti Singh and Chris Mitchell

• Newsletter: EBIT - May 2007

  Welcome to the May issue of EBIT (Emerging Business, Innovation and Tax). EBIT is an informative newsletter to be shared amongst your clients and colleagues. We provide this information to help you keep abreast of changes to legislation and to stay informed of recent cases and other developments. We hope you enjoyed this issue of EBIT and we look forward to bringing you more issues of EBIT in the future.

  24 May 07 Marcus O'Brien, Michael Tooma, Peter Norman , Angela Zhang, April Thomas

• Newsletter: EBIT - March 2007

  Welcome to the March issue of EBIT (Emerging Business, Innovation and Tax). EBIT is an informative newsletter to be shared amongst your clients and colleagues. We provide this information to help you keep abreast of changes to legislation and to stay informed of recent cases and other developments. In this issue we discuss unfair dismissal and permitted termination for a genuine operational reason. We look at copyright protection, and we review the revised exposure draft for the taxation of financial arrangements tax timing rules. We hope you enjoyed this issue of EBIT and we look forward to bringing you more issues of EBIT in the future.

  9 Mar 07 David Coombes, Greg Hipwell, Michael Serong, Gregory Wong , Evan Mentiplay, Annabele Nilsoon

• News & Insights: VoIP Industry Forum Update

  An update on the recent VoIP Industry Forum attended by representatives from each of Communications Alliance Limited (the merger of ACIF and SPAN), Australian Communications Media Authority (ACMA), the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

  19 Dec 06 Nick Abrahams, Glenda Stubbs

• Newsletter: Enterprise – December 2006

  Welcome to the December issue of Enterprise. The last few months have seen the High Court confirm the validity of Work Choices, the Australian Fair Pay Commission hand down its first decision, the Award Review Taskforce present its reports on pay and classifications and award rationalization and some fine tuning of Work Choices largely to address employer concerns. This edition of Enterprise examines other important developments with a focus on the employer/employee relationship. We look at an employer failing to follow its own policies on termination, what is “acceptable alternative employment” in a redundancy situation, a protracted absence on sick leave and post-employment restraint. Owner drivers in Victoria and diplomatic employers round out our overview of the employment relationship. Our authors will be happy to hear from you if you need more depth than the space we have allowed them permits.

  8 Dec 06 Stuart Kollmorgen, Alan Grinsell-Jones, Jason Noakes, David Cross , Magda Marciniak, Carolyn Symons, Evan Mentiplay, Jessica Idotta, Olivia Hillier, Kristy Cassoff, Lindsey Kerr, Dan Pilmore, Jenny Thrum, Ashley Bozdag

• Newsletter: EBIT - December 2006

  Welcome to the December edition of EBIT (Emerging Business, Innovation and Tax). EBIT is an informative newsletter to be shared amongst your clients and colleagues. We provide this information to help you keep abreast of changes to legislation and to stay informed of recent cases and other developments.

  4 Dec 06 Michael Park, David Wilson , Ka-Chi Cheung, Stephen Clune