About

Given the fast-paced nature of the telecommunications industry, Vodafone Qatar is continually required to evolve its business and its areas of commercial focus to ensure it keeps pace with a rapidly changing global environment. Key areas of focus in this context are the increasing drive to deliver and produce content and a move to digital. As a result, the Vodafone Qatar legal team has also had to evolve and ensure that its knowledge and skillset are fit for purpose and it is suitably equipped to advise competently on these new areas of focus. Over the past two years, the Vodafone Qatar legal team has boosted its skillset considerably to facilitate the delivery of commercial agreements that allow the company to evolve the products and services it offers to its consumer and enterprise customers. For example, the legal team has concluded several agreements with regional and international content providers designed to expand its offering in this space. The team is led by Ian Quigley, legal director, and supported by Rita El Helou, senior legal manager, Susan Winfield, senior legal manager, and Sinemis Bayram, contracts specialist. The Vodafone Qatar legal team advises all business units on a broad range of matters, including commercial contracts, transactional and project work and litigation, with the primary objective of managing business risk within acceptable levels whilst facilitating the company’s strategic and operational objectives. Over the past 12 months, there has been a significant amount of transactional work which has materially impacted the structure and operation of the company. In particular, Vodafone Group divested its indirect equity stake in Vodafone Qatar as announced to the Qatar Stock Exchange in February 2018. While the transaction was conducted at a shareholder level, the Vodafone Qatar legal team was closely involved in co-ordinating and managing the transaction sequencing with all related stakeholders, including shareholders and the Vodafone Qatar Board, to ensure that all necessary disclosures by Vodafone Qatar (as a listed entity) were aligned. The transaction also necessitated Vodafone Qatar entering into a co-operation agreement with Vodafone Group to ensure the continued use of the Vodafone brand and access to Vodafone products and services by the company. This required intensive negotiation with Vodafone Group on the scope and terms of the cooperation agreement within a short and pressurised timeframe. The legal team concluded the agreement with Vodafone Group within the necessary timeframes and effectively managed the disclosure aspects of the transaction in a practically and commercially focused manner to ensure that the transaction was completed and announced to the market in line with Board and shareholder expectations. Quigley identifies El Helou’s contribution to the team in particular, saying: ‘[Her] expertise in languages has meant that she is the primary point of contact in the legal team for all Arabic related matters. Rita’s work ethic and robust but pleasant approach to dealing with the business has identified her as an outstanding member of the Vodafone Qatar legal team’.