Telecommunications

Telecommunications

We routinely represent telecom clients in a wide range of  regulatory, transactional and litigation matters. In addition, working with other members of the firm, we counsel and assist telecom clients with a broad range of business issues, including contracts for network construction and equipment acquisition, financing, franchise agreements, antitrust counseling and litigation, billing-dispute resolution and corporate governance. We also assist telecom clients with transactions such as mergers and acquisitions, state tax matters, and access to buildings and public rights-of-way.

We work with a broad range of clients operating in both regulated and competitive environments including wireline, broadband, fiber, cable, wireless, voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) and satellite technologies.  Our attorneys are actively engaged in ongoing regulatory, technological and business developments affecting the Texas telecom industry.

Matters before the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC)

McGinnis Lochridge attorneys have represented clients before the PUC since its formation in 1975 and have played a prominent role in most of the significant telecommunications cases that have come before the agency. Such matters in which we are engaged include regulatory compliance, inter-carrier dispute resolution, negotiation and arbitration of interconnection agreements, rate regulation, universal-service issues, customer billing, mergers and acquisitions (and related regulatory approvals), certification and rulemaking proceedings.

Transactional Matters

Our telecom clients often turn to McGinnis Lochridge for assistance in transactional matters. Our experience includes: 

• Counseling, drafting and negotiation in connection with wholesale fiber lease and collocation agreements, interconnection agreements and other forms of traffic agreements with carriers and large corporate or institutional customers. In recent years, our attorneys negotiated, drafted and closed multi-party contracts for the construction and operation of wholesale fiber networks funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
• Assisting with sales, mergers and acquisitions, and business formation issues, including opinion-of-counsel letters in connection with financings, sales and acquisitions. 
• Developing and negotiating various agreements including service agreements, joint marketing agreements, franchise agreements, multi-tenant service agreements and construction, and financing agreements in connection with the development of new telecom and fiber networks. 
• Advising on easements, rights of way, and pole attachments.

Other Matters

All McGinnis Lochridge practice groups collaborate freely as client needs dictate. We often represent telecom clients in trial litigation, appeals, class actions and matters before the Attorney General of Texas, including requests under the Public Information Act, Civil Investigative Demands, employment matters, and consumer protection issues. We can assist in the protection of intellectual property, as well as in bankruptcy proceedings. We also provide telecom clients with general business assistance related to corporate formation, sales and acquisition of business interests, employment law, state tax, consumer protection, and matters related to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

• Moderator, Competitive Trends, Texas Statewide Telephone Cooperative, Inc. Annual Meeting October 2014 -