Telecommunications

The Brunini Firm serves as regular counsel to the largest privately held wireless carrier in the United States.  The Firm represents and counsels a number of telecommunications companies in business, litigation, and federal and state regulatory matters. The Firm represents its telecommunications clients in wireless license acquisitions and exchanges, mergers and acquisitions, asset sales and purchases, secured transactions, financing, antitrust, and warranty issues. The Firm also regularly prepares, negotiates and reviews contracts for its clients in the telecommunications industry, including contracts relating to interconnection, equipment purchases, networks, sales of capacity, software licenses, intellectual property, and service agreements.  The Firm represents its telecommunications clients in litigation in federal and state courts and in contested proceedings before the Mississippi Public Service Commission. These disputes involve issues that are unique to the telecommunications industry, such as federal and state telecommunications laws and regulations, interconnection, access charges and universal service, as well as other commercial disputes. The Firm's attorneys represent clients in telecommunications franchise and zoning matters before local governmental bodies and in litigation under the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996. The Firm also assists in obtaining Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity in proceedings before the Mississippi Public Service Commission and it provides right-of-way acquisition services for fiber optic cable projects. The Firm advises clients on federal and state policy matters including strategy development and implementation. The Firm's telecommunications clients provide wireless services, including PCS and broadband, fiber optic telecommunications and information services, Internet access, and long distance and competitive local exchange service throughout the United States.

Representative Matters

• Represents the country’s largest privately held wireless telecommunications company, C Spire Wireless, in matters ranging from mergers and acquisitions to regulatory matters, corporate law, financing, intellectual property and contract negotiation.
• Represents one of Mississippi’s largest competitive local exchange carriers and has been actively involved in their fiber optic facilities based expansion in Mississippi.
• Regularly practices before the Mississippi Public Service Commission on telecommunications matters.
• In the Matter of Rural Cellular Association, Petition for Rulemaking Regarding Exclusivity Arrangements Between Commercial Wireless Carriers and Handset Manufacturers - Prepared comments in this docket, which was established to determine whether the FCC should open a rule-making proceeding to review handset exclusivity agreement between large carriers and handset manufacturers.
• The Firm is currently serving as co-lead counsel in an antitrust lawsuit brought by C Spire Wireless (formerly Cellular South, Inc.) under the Clayton Act seeking an injunction against the proposed merger of T-Mobile by AT&T.  The case is currently pending before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
• Broadband Stimulus Proposals under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and related mapping and other activities for a number of clients to include Cellular South, Inc., Telepak Networks, Inc., Delta Telephone Company, Inc., and Franklin Telephone Company, Inc.
• Obtained favorable ruling for wireless carrier client from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi on appeal of arbitration findings and approval of interconnection agreement by the Mississippi Public Service Commission (MPSC) in interconnection dispute between wireless carrier and rural local exchange carriers.  The Court held that the MPSC had erred in not applying TELRIC pricing rules to interconnection agreement and by failing to require local exchange carriers to provide dialing parity for wireless numbers. Cellular South, Inc. v, Mississippi Public Service Commission, et al., in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, Civil Action No. 3:08cv201.

News & Events

• Court Allows C Spire Action to Enjoin AT&T-T Mobile Merger to Proceed
• Rogers and Penick Close Financing for Credit Facility
• JIM HALFORD PRESENTS AT MISSISSIPPI NATURAL GAS ASSOCIATION'S ANNUAL CONFERENCE
• McBride and Cirilli Obtain Dismissal of Regional Wireless Carriers from Patent Infringement Lawsuit
• McBride and Wallace Analyze Recent Telecom Antitrust and Consumer Protection Cases