
Telecom Transactions
We are zealous advocates for purchasers of telecommunications and network-related services. A focus of our practice is negotiating telecom service agreements for enterprise customers, including over half of the Fortune 100. In partnership with our consulting affiliate, TechCaliber Consulting (TC2), we provide clients with the legal and financial expertise they need to construct cutting-edge telecom service contracts, starting with RFP preparation and continuing through contract execution, implementation, and compliance.
Voice and Data Network Services
LB3's lawyers pioneered the negotiation of custom network service agreements and other complex telecommunications network transactions that typically involve a combination of services such as domestic and international voice, dedicated access, private line, teleconferencing, DWDM, Ethernet, MPLS, remote access, and IP-based transport. Today we develop telecom procurement strategies; define vendor selection criteria, evaluate proposals; and negotiate agreements that allow our clients to seize the opportunities presented by the changing technology and supplier landscape.
Our experience includes:
- Representing many of the nation's largest enterprise customers in the negotiation of agreements for a wide range of services, including voice and data services with interexchange carriers such as AT&T, Sprint and Verizon and wireless voice and data services with all of the major carriers.
- Assisting enterprise customers in dealing with the new megacarriers: AT&T (AT&T IXC, SBC and Bell South), Verizon and Sprint by developing new contracting strategies and contract documents.
- Representing the City of New York in the negotiation of path breaking local service agreements with Verizon and AT&T.
- Assisting organizations in the insurance, health care, hospitality, and retail sectors in the negotiation of consortium purchases under which participants pool their buying power in local, long distance, and Internet services.
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Negotiating and arbitrating interconnection arrangements with interexchange and incumbent local exchange carriers on behalf of competitive providers of local telecommunications.
Internet and Other IP-related Transactions
LB3 has long assisted clients in procuring Internet access and related capabilities to support their business requirements, and we have extensive experience in drafting and negotiating complex inter/intra/extranet development transactions. In recent years, the spread of IP-based technology has spawned a variety of new services, ranging from managed security to burstable capacity Internet access to Internet Protocol multicasting, IP-Virtual Private Networks ("VPNs") for remote and dedicated access, and now voice-over-Internet-protocol (VoIP) services. As the industry evolves, clients seek to optimize and secure their data resources, digital SIP-based media and content management. In these areas, LB3 has taken the lead in developing flexible contract structures that accommodate technology migration and minimize the effects of adverse market developments. We focus on getting the services specifications and terms that clients need, developing creative legal frameworks to support business process and information technology requirements.
Global Sourcing
The markets for international and overseas telecommunications, network, and IT services offer dynamism and unique operational and cost-savings opportunities for multinational enterprises. They also offer a raft of sourcing, legal, and operational challenges.
Since the firm’s inception, LB3 attorneys have helped clients navigate the ever-changing markets for these services and assess changing technologies, service offerings, providers and provider capabilities. We have extensive, tested experience negotiating global communications, managed services, and other technology transactions for sophisticated financial services, hospitality, shipping, logistics and carriage services, and pharmaceutical, automotive, and other manufacturing clients. We work closely with clients’ in-house and outside procurement, technical, tax, human resources, and financial professionals to identify and solve regulatory, financial, operational, data privacy and security, and human resources issues that are often critical to the success of international transactions. We also draw upon our global network of advisors when specialized or in-country expertise is needed to augment our clients’ resources.
To each transaction, we bring our broad knowledge of service provider reach and practices, the hands-on involvement and expertise of the firm’s partners, an unwavering focus on our clients’ objectives and the most effective means to achieve them, a dedication to quality, and a commitment to efficient and cost-effective staffing.
Local Services
In the years before the telecom megamergers, competitive local exchange carriers ("CLECs") like the old MCI and AT&T Local Services competed head-to-head with incumbent local exchange carriers ("ILECs") such as Verizon, BellSouth, and SBC for the business of large users by offering additional discounts when a customer purchased both local and interexchange services. The ILECs responded by introducing or expanding programs that offer discounts to customers who commit certain volumes of traffic and waging war on programs that allowed resale of their services at reasonable rates. Although the CLECs have been battered and telecom megamergers have diminished competition for local services, enterprise customers can still reap meaningful savings and substantially improved terms and conditions by negotiating local services agreements. Our first-hand knowledge and first-on-the-ground experience, help clients navigate the local services market, including the emerging market of integrated local/interexchange agreements, to help ensure that enterprise customers are able to maximize pricing benefits and contractual protections.
Carrier Purchases and New Entrants
As carriers expand their markets and geographic reach, many have turned to us for advice as they negotiate carrier-to-carrier agreements. We have negotiated nine- and ten-figure telecommunications service and dark fiber agreements between carriers - always on the buyer's side of the table. We ensure that clients emerge with well-defined services, workable service quality parameters, and terms that protect against unwarranted rate increases.
LB3 has also long represented competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) in dealing with incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs). We have been a leader in representing CLECs in matters relating to market entry, as well as negotiating (and, when necessary, arbitrating) interconnection agreements, counseling CLECs, Data Local Exchange Carriers (DLECs) and Enterprise or Captive Local Exchange Carriers (ELECs) with regard to regulatory matters, obtaining state certifications, and communications-related securities issues. And LB3 assists CLECs in disputes with incumbent local exchange providers.
Downloads
Media Center

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Podcast: Trends in Enterprise Mobility Pricing
February 22, 2018
-
The FCC's Rural Health Care Fund is a Victim of its Own Success
November 27, 2017
-
Podcast: What Enterprise Customers Need to Know about Avaya's Bankruptcy
January 25, 2017
-
Podcast: Trouble at Tangoe?
January 10, 2017
-
Contract Games: How Verizon Rapid Delivery Turns Contracting on its Head
August 30, 2016
-
The 2020 WAN Takes Shape: SDN, Virtualization & Hybrid WANs
August 13, 2015
-
Utilities continue to face spectrum challenges, UTC panelists say
May 14, 2015
-
It's a fragmented UCaaS world, so buyers beware
May 11, 2015
-
Prepare, Persist and Protect
The Three Ps of Global Telecoms Project Sourcing and Management
November 2013
-
Ten Pitfalls to Avoid When Negotiating Telecom Service Agreements
October 15, 2013
-
What's Trending Now in Enterprise Telecom
SIP Trunking is making progress, wireless continues to grow as IT throws in the towel against BYOD. What these and other trends will mean for you.
April 23, 2013
-
Enterprise Connect General Session Summit - Cloud: Opportunity, Threat or Yawn
March 20, 2013
-
Enterprise Connect Break Out Session: Cloud/ Hosted UC Customers Speak Out
March 20, 2013
-
Enterprise Connect general Session Summit: The Real-time Web - What it Means for Your Enterprise
March 20, 2013
-
Enterprise Connect Break Out Session: Cloud Contracts - Good, Bad & Ugly
March 19, 2013
-
Enterprise Connect Summit: Deep Dives - SIP Trunking: Who's Offering What?
March 18, 2013
-
Take the EC 13 Challenge and Coin a Replacement for "BYOD"
It's a bad analogy that creates misguided expectations. We need a better expression for incorporating personal devices into enterprise services.
March 12, 2013
-
Thinking About Buying a M2M Solution or Developing Your Own?
What enterprises need to know before they embark on contracts with service providers.
March 5, 2013
-
Will Power Be the Next Big Issue in Communications and Network Reliability?
Are public networks as reliable as they should be--and whose responsibility is it to improve the situation?
February 28, 2013
-
Minimizing the Pain of Forced Service Migrations
February 2013
-
Nothing Changes a Telecom Deal Like a Merger or Acquisition
Those who don't plan can be quickly overwhelmed by a change and spend their time making bad decisions as they put out fires.
January 27, 2013
-
What Enterprises Can Learn from the Consumer Backlash Against Instagram
This is a "teachable moment" for enterprises regarding the dangers of online terms.
January 1, 2013
-
Verizon’s New Online Master Terms Highlight Risks of Online Service Agreements
Enterprise customers beware: What's in your contract may not determine what happens with your actual service.
December 6, 2012
-
Contracting with Sprint in the SoftBank Era
November 20, 2012
-
Recent DDoS Attack a Wake-up Call for Carriers and Customers Alike
Enterprises must demand information and accountability about how the carriers manage risk in their network.
October 8, 2012
-
The Complexities of BYOD
September 19, 2012
-
How Do You Know What Your TEM Doesn't Know?
Relying on telecom expense management without any kind of backstop could result in missed savings and optimization opportunities.
September 6, 2012
-
Ignorance is Not Bliss For Multinationals Considering IPT and VoIP
July 15, 2012
-
Verizon Wants to Exploit Your Confidential Information
May 30, 2012
-
AT&T Bites the Hands that Feed It … Again!
May 30, 2012
-
Enterprise Connect Summit: SIP Trunking and The Cloud = The New Public Network?
March 28, 2012
-
Enterprise Connect Summit: Deep Dives - SIP Trunking: Who's Offering What?
March 26, 2012
-
Blood from Stones: Reducing Telecom Costs in 2012
March 20, 2012
-
Getting the Price You Pay Closer to the Price You Were Quoted – Finding and Dealing with Hidden Carrier Charges and Surcharges
February 14, 2012
-
Ten New Year Resolutions for the Enterprise
Resolve to take these steps to strengthen your hand when dealing with the carriers.
January 13, 2012
-
AT&T’s Creeping Costs
What’s AT&T Dedicated Access Going to Cost You? More Than You Think
December 21, 2011
-
AT&T Hikes the Price of ACCU-Rings
November 29, 2011
-
Why or Why Not WiFi?
October 5, 2011
-
Update on the AT&T/T-Mobile Merger
September 20, 2011
-
AT&T Demands Control Over Its Customers' Deployment of SIP Trunking
August 28, 2011
-
Faster & Cheaper
June 3, 2011
-
You hate AUPs, but you need one for guest Wi-Fi access
April 28, 2011
-
Enterprise Connect 2011
Unified Communications and Cloud Computing
March 2, 2011
-
E911 in 2011 - Guidance for Enterprise Users
January 31, 2011
-
SIP Trunking Contracts Part 2:
Fix (or Work Around) Limits on Your Flexibility
December 6, 2010
-
E911: The MLTS Problem Gets More Complicated with New Legislation and New Technology
December 3, 2010
-
SIP Trunking Part 1
What to Do Before Pulling All of Your TDM Local Voice
November 21, 2010
-
Change in the Procurement of Enterprise Network Services:
Are We Moving Down the Track or Jumping it?
October 2010
-
SIP Trunking and the Death of the Voice Silo
August 26, 2010
-
Telecom Billing and Payment Terms: Fighting the Hidden Costs
August 27, 2009
-
A date with your supplier at Pebble Beach, and five other mistakes you can’t afford to make
April 17, 2009
-
Avoiding Unexpected Cost Increases While Trying To Save
April 7, 2009
-
A recession-era guide to network service agreements
December 22, 2008
-
How Carriers Try to Increase Your Spend in Tough Times
November 18, 2008
-
Thoughts on IPT Deployment Concerns
June 5, 2008
Articles

-
Podcast: Trends in Enterprise Mobility Pricing
February 22, 2018
-
The FCC's Rural Health Care Fund is a Victim of its Own Success
November 27, 2017
-
Podcast: What Enterprise Customers Need to Know about Avaya's Bankruptcy
January 25, 2017
-
Podcast: Trouble at Tangoe?
January 10, 2017
-
Contract Games: How Verizon Rapid Delivery Turns Contracting on its Head
August 30, 2016
-
The 2020 WAN Takes Shape: SDN, Virtualization & Hybrid WANs
August 13, 2015
-
Utilities continue to face spectrum challenges, UTC panelists say
May 14, 2015
-
It's a fragmented UCaaS world, so buyers beware
May 11, 2015
-
Prepare, Persist and Protect
The Three Ps of Global Telecoms Project Sourcing and Management
November 2013
-
Ten Pitfalls to Avoid When Negotiating Telecom Service Agreements
October 15, 2013
-
What's Trending Now in Enterprise Telecom
SIP Trunking is making progress, wireless continues to grow as IT throws in the towel against BYOD. What these and other trends will mean for you.
April 23, 2013
-
Enterprise Connect General Session Summit - Cloud: Opportunity, Threat or Yawn
March 20, 2013
-
Enterprise Connect Break Out Session: Cloud/ Hosted UC Customers Speak Out
March 20, 2013
-
Enterprise Connect general Session Summit: The Real-time Web - What it Means for Your Enterprise
March 20, 2013
-
Enterprise Connect Break Out Session: Cloud Contracts - Good, Bad & Ugly
March 19, 2013
-
Enterprise Connect Summit: Deep Dives - SIP Trunking: Who's Offering What?
March 18, 2013
-
Take the EC 13 Challenge and Coin a Replacement for "BYOD"
It's a bad analogy that creates misguided expectations. We need a better expression for incorporating personal devices into enterprise services.
March 12, 2013
-
Thinking About Buying a M2M Solution or Developing Your Own?
What enterprises need to know before they embark on contracts with service providers.
March 5, 2013
-
Will Power Be the Next Big Issue in Communications and Network Reliability?
Are public networks as reliable as they should be--and whose responsibility is it to improve the situation?
February 28, 2013
-
Minimizing the Pain of Forced Service Migrations
February 2013
-
Nothing Changes a Telecom Deal Like a Merger or Acquisition
Those who don't plan can be quickly overwhelmed by a change and spend their time making bad decisions as they put out fires.
January 27, 2013
-
What Enterprises Can Learn from the Consumer Backlash Against Instagram
This is a "teachable moment" for enterprises regarding the dangers of online terms.
January 1, 2013
-
Verizon’s New Online Master Terms Highlight Risks of Online Service Agreements
Enterprise customers beware: What's in your contract may not determine what happens with your actual service.
December 6, 2012
-
Contracting with Sprint in the SoftBank Era
November 20, 2012
-
Recent DDoS Attack a Wake-up Call for Carriers and Customers Alike
Enterprises must demand information and accountability about how the carriers manage risk in their network.
October 8, 2012
-
The Complexities of BYOD
September 19, 2012
-
How Do You Know What Your TEM Doesn't Know?
Relying on telecom expense management without any kind of backstop could result in missed savings and optimization opportunities.
September 6, 2012
-
Ignorance is Not Bliss For Multinationals Considering IPT and VoIP
July 15, 2012
-
Verizon Wants to Exploit Your Confidential Information
May 30, 2012
-
AT&T Bites the Hands that Feed It … Again!
May 30, 2012
-
Enterprise Connect Summit: SIP Trunking and The Cloud = The New Public Network?
March 28, 2012
-
Enterprise Connect Summit: Deep Dives - SIP Trunking: Who's Offering What?
March 26, 2012
-
Blood from Stones: Reducing Telecom Costs in 2012
March 20, 2012
-
Getting the Price You Pay Closer to the Price You Were Quoted – Finding and Dealing with Hidden Carrier Charges and Surcharges
February 14, 2012
-
Ten New Year Resolutions for the Enterprise
Resolve to take these steps to strengthen your hand when dealing with the carriers.
January 13, 2012
-
AT&T’s Creeping Costs
What’s AT&T Dedicated Access Going to Cost You? More Than You Think
December 21, 2011
-
AT&T Hikes the Price of ACCU-Rings
November 29, 2011
-
Why or Why Not WiFi?
October 5, 2011
-
Update on the AT&T/T-Mobile Merger
September 20, 2011
-
AT&T Demands Control Over Its Customers' Deployment of SIP Trunking
August 28, 2011
-
Faster & Cheaper
June 3, 2011
-
You hate AUPs, but you need one for guest Wi-Fi access
April 28, 2011
-
Enterprise Connect 2011
Unified Communications and Cloud Computing
March 2, 2011
-
E911 in 2011 - Guidance for Enterprise Users
January 31, 2011
-
SIP Trunking Contracts Part 2:
Fix (or Work Around) Limits on Your Flexibility
December 6, 2010
-
E911: The MLTS Problem Gets More Complicated with New Legislation and New Technology
December 3, 2010
-
SIP Trunking Part 1
What to Do Before Pulling All of Your TDM Local Voice
November 21, 2010
-
Change in the Procurement of Enterprise Network Services:
Are We Moving Down the Track or Jumping it?
October 2010
-
SIP Trunking and the Death of the Voice Silo
August 26, 2010
-
Telecom Billing and Payment Terms: Fighting the Hidden Costs
August 27, 2009
-
A date with your supplier at Pebble Beach, and five other mistakes you can’t afford to make
April 17, 2009
-
Avoiding Unexpected Cost Increases While Trying To Save
April 7, 2009
-
A recession-era guide to network service agreements
December 22, 2008
-
How Carriers Try to Increase Your Spend in Tough Times
November 18, 2008
-
Thoughts on IPT Deployment Concerns
June 5, 2008