ARIAS, FABREGA & FABREGA's lawyers are leaders in advising clients in the television and radio broadcasting businesses, as well as in the cable TV industry.

Concerning our experience in the radio and TV sector, for over two decades we have served as counsel for Grupo Medcom owning the TV rights for Panama's most relevant public TV channels:  "Telemetro" Channel 13 and "RPC" Channel 4. We assisted Grupo Medcom in connection with their concession rights for the public TV "Tele 7" Channel 7, on VHF bandwidth and regularly provide advice on radio and TV matters.

Also, we serve as counsel to Cable Onda, S.A., Panama's main provider of cable TV services including digital TV, pay per view and DVR, also providing Internet and fixed telephony services. We assisted Cable Onda, S.A. in its M&A agreement with local telecom operator Tele-Carrier, Inc. mainly providing corporate fixed telephony services, and have participated in the negotiations and drafting of agreement with their providers of satellite signals.

Concerning our experience in the telecommunications sector, we provide services to various companies such as Google, Inc. (review of agreements on telecoms matters); Verizon Business (Panama Branch) and MCI International on regular telecom queries; Promitel Panama, S.A. (subsidiary of Colombia’s Promigas group) providing Internet and data capacity (we assisted in their operations set up and regulatory filings); Sitel Operating Corp., an international call center (we assisted in connection with their operations set up, call center license, and regulatory filings); Banco General, Panama's largest local bank on their IT queries, as well as American Express, among others.

Our services include:

• Securing operations permits and licenses
• Negotiating equipment procurement contracts
• Financing television, radio and cable TV operators
• Acquisitions of television, radio and cable TV operators
• Joint-venture agreements for television, radio and cable TV operators
• Civil and administrative proceedings
• Defenses against customer complaints
• Government audits and investigations
• Negotiations with the National Public Services Authority to resolve regulatory issues
• Commercial and customer agreements used by television, radio and cable TV operators
• General advice on media and communication laws and regulations
• Evaluation and comments on behalf of clients to proposed media and communication laws and regulations

We regularly provide advice to our clients on telecom related matters and defend our client's interests before the regulator ("Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Públicos" or "ASEP") as well as before the Supreme Court. Our telecom and radio and TV experts deal with the regulator's staff on a regular basis and have good working relations with such personnel dating to various years. We also file for permits and requests before ASEP as may be needed, and we are prepared to negotiate agreements with other carriers and operators which would allow our client to implement their business operations in Panama.

One of our partners played a significant role in the drafting of Panama's media and communication law.  We were responsible for preparing the recent Lex Mundi telecom survey for Panama.

Representative Clients