Practice Areas > Media & Entertainment

The communications industry analysis of India suggests that this industry has registered phenomenal growth since the 1990s. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) regulates the telecommunication industry of India. It has earned good reputation for precision and competence.

Our Focus

The communication industry has grown immensely over the last 15 years but huge scope of growth still waits to be explored.

India had 851.70 million mobile phone subscribers at the end of June 2011. The country has the fourth highest number of Internet users with over 100 million as of December 2010. The primary regulator of communications in India is the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). As the fastest growing telecommunications market in the world, India is projected to have 1.159 billion mobile subscribers by 2013. Several leading global consultancies estimate that India will become the world's largest mobile phone market by subscriptions by 2013. In 2008-09 the overall telecom equipments revenue in India stood at Rupees 136,833 crore (US$30.51 billion) during the fiscal, as against Rs.115,382 crore (US$25.73 billion) a year before.

Our Competencies

We offer international and domestic experience and expertise on the full range of issues relating to telecommunications, media and information technology.

Our lawyers have extensive knowledge of negotiating and securing rights for participating in Indian telecom liberalisation. This team has also advised multi-national and domestic clients on various telecom issues.

Our Experience

The issues handled by our 'communications' team are as varied as those facing the internet companies. They include:

• Negotiating and drafting agreements for e-commerce transactions
• Interactive content providers
• Online marketing and advising

The areas covered by such agreements include:

• Product and software development
• Distribution
• Outsourcing
• System integration
• Internet home page development
• E-commerce sites
• Corporate e-mail policies
• Hyperlinks
• Electronic data interchange

Other work in this field

We have also counseled clients regarding the legal standards for conducting sweepstakes and contests over the Internet; as well as on the practice of telemedicine and promotion of medical products via the internet. Other agreements dealt with by the team include those for the sale and purchase of internet companies and the documentations, permissions and approvals required thereupon.

Contractual agreements, operating licenses and more

A number of issues arise after a telecommunications company secures an operating license in the basic as well as cellular telephony. These include contractual agreements with subscribers, dealers, retailers, distributors, manufacturers of handsets, commission scheduling for dealers, retailers or distributors, terms and conditions for user of SIM cards in areas such as global roaming, customer and area specific agreements, intellectual property issues, and registration of the dealers/distributors agreements with the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission.

Advani & Co. has handled all such agreements for Birla AT&T, who are providing cellular services in telecom circles of Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat. We also have sufficient experience in drafting definitive agreements relating to joint ventures for laying of optic fiber cables.

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