This is the first post in a three-part series focussing on key legal issues in data centre, fibre and towers acquisitions and investments. Overview The ever increasing demand for connectivity is set to lead to a transformation of the digital infrastructure on which the telecoms sector is built. The huge amount of capital required to … Read more

The COVID-19 pandemic is creating significant economic challenges for industries world-wide. The European venture capital industry and the start-up ecosystem it supports is no exception. Recent Trends Before the onset of the pandemic, European venture capital deal activity was very healthy. Whilst there was a downward trend in terms of deal count (attributable to late-stage … Read more

The problem Misinformation and the spread of ‘fake news’ is not a novel issue. As engagement with social media has grown exponentially, so has the ability to circulate unverified information quickly and extensively. However, the harmful effects of the mass broadcast and sharing of false information have been felt acutely during the coronavirus pandemic. Users … Read more

On 7 January 2020 the European Commission’s Enforcement and Modernisation Directive (EU) 2019/2161 (informally referred to as the Omnibus Directive) came into force. This is the first of two blogs exploring the Omnibus Directive and what it means for stakeholders at all levels. In this Part 1 we look at the background to the directive, … Read more

Gambling Commission Guidance The Gambling Commission has released new guidance acknowledging the increased challenges that businesses in the industry are facing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidance explicitly reminds licensees that: they are expected to follow Public Health guidance; they should assess their ability for continued compliance with their relevant licence conditions … Read more

On 12 March 2020, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, presented the 2020 Budget – the first since the UK exited the European Union (available here). The following announcements (some of which are new, but others build on previously announced measures) are likely to be of particular interest to the Technology, Media and Telecoms … Read more

On 4 March 2020 the Financial Conduct Authority published a short set of findings from its review of outsourcing in the UK life insurance sector. Despite the review’s narrow scope, the FCA’s findings are readily applicable to other outsourcing contexts, so regulated firms outside the life insurance sector should be aware of these. The FCA … Read more

5 March 2020 saw the European Commission (EC) announce an unprecedented agreement with short-stay accommodation titans Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and TripAdvisor to share and publish data (on the number of nights booked and the number of guests staying) with the EC via Eurostat (the EU’s statistical office) (press release here). Eurostat will then aggregate the … Read more