Telecom, media and IT

Pepeliaev Group’s Cross-Sectoral Telecommunications Group is one of the firm's most dynamically developing divisions.

Among our clients are more than 80 companies from the telecommunications and media sector.

The group’s lawyers appear as independent experts in:

the State Duma,
the highest courts,
major business associations.

The successful work of the group is constantly commended by such international rating agencies as:

Chambers Europe,
Legal 500.

Pepeliaev Group’s Telecommunications Group, headed by Natalia Kovalenko (Ivashchenko). Natalia herself is referred to as a ‘great professional’, who regularly advises companies specialising in hi-tech and telecoms on complex issues relating to contractual relations and legal regulation.

Legal 500, 2015

Key areas of the Group's activity

Regulatory standards for communication activity
Taxation of telecommunication companies
Corporate law issues
Providing advice on the specifics of telecommunication companies’ activity
Advising on compliance with antitrust legislation with regard to the communication sector
Licensing issues
Land law, real estate and construction
Defending telecoms operators in court

Projects

Challenging additional assessments in favour of a major telecommunication company

Pepeliaev Group’s lawyers represented a client to which a tax authority had assessed additional profit tax on several grounds based on the results of a field tax audit. In doing so, the tax authority did not recognise a court decision which had been previously handed down in favour of the company, insisting that it had a right to specify additional grounds and ignore the previous court decision. Our lawyers managed to defend the client’s position on this point. The court stated that the tax authority should in any case comply with the previous decision of the court. And therefore the court has defended one of the fundamental principles of law that all state authorities should comply with court decisions. The total amount in dispute exceeded RUB 90 million.

Legal due diligence of the reports and accounts of one of the largest telecommunications companies

Pepeliaev Group’s lawyers conducted legal due diligence of the company's tax and accounting reporting documents and identified potential tax risks, offering recommendations for mitigating them. This allowed significant claims from the tax authorities to be avoided when a field tax audit was conducted.

Other projects