Peter Alexiadis is the founding partner of the Brussels office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and he also serves as Partner-In-Charge of the office. He has practised Community law in Brussels since 1989, where his practice is split between competition law, communications policy, and intellectual property law. He is the holder of postgraduate legal qualifications from the Universities of London, Sydney and Thessaloniki.

Practice Summary

Peter Alexiadis’ communications practice spans all aspects of regulation, policy and competition law affecting the communications sector, for both private companies and government institutions in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. His work for the sector is divided between advice for, and the defence of, private companies and counselling to government institutions. Peter has well over two decades of experience in conducting regulatory due diligence exercises in telecommunications sector mergers and in the drafting of regulatory overviews of the sector for IPOs. His expert opinions have often been cited in important regulatory decisions and court proceedings in many jurisdictions around the world, and he has addressed various international institutions and national parliaments on communications policy. In this regard, he has undertaken major telecommunications reform project work in countries such as Hungary, Greece and Cyprus, and has undertaken important regulatory advisory opinions inter alia for the National Regulatory Authorities of Cyprus, Portugal, Greece, Bahrain and Egypt.  He also has extensive experience in the review of State aids schemes affecting the electronic communications sector.

Peter has particular expertise in market definition and market power assessment under the EU Regulatory Framework for electronic communications networks and services, having been the principle draftsman for the Commission study exploring the new regulatory approach brought about under the Framework Directive, with extensive experience in advising both operators and regulators on market definition and market power issues under the Regulatory Framework established under that Directive (having conducted such analyses across EU jurisdictions such as Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Romania, Cyprus and Jordan, and having been project leader in the European Commission study which provided the analytical basis for the current EU Regulatory Framework for electronic communications networks and services).

He was also a project leader on a number of milestone European Commission studies relating to the development of new policy in the communications sector and indeed has also served as an external counsel to the Communications Unit at the European Commission’s DG Competition for three years (1999 – 2002). He has worked extensively in regulatory policy matters across many jurisdictions, including: Ireland, Hungary, Greece, Romania, Portugal, Cyprus, Jordan, South Africa, Egypt, Bahrain, Thailand and San Marino. He has been the project leader in a number of landmark regulatory, competition and policy studies for the European Commission, including:

• “Market Definitions for Regulatory Obligations in Communications Markets” (2002);
• “Consumer Demand for Telecommunications Services and the Implications of the Convergence of Fixed and Mobile Networks for the Regulatory Framework for a Liberalised EU Market”(2000); and
• “Adapting the EU Telecommunications Regulatory Framework to the Developing Multimedia Environment” (1997).

He has also been project leader for three European Commission studies in 2007-2008, entitled:

• “Impact of Institutional Issues in the Review of the EU Framework for Electronic Communications”;
• “The Consistent Application of Regulatory Measures in the Area of Electronic Communications and its Impact in the Internal Market”; and
• “The Future of Next Generation Access – an Analysis of Potential Remedies”.

In recognition of his standing in the sector, Peter was appointed in 2007 as one of three trustees of the International Institute for Communications. Most recently, Peter was one of two international experts appointed by the Belgian Minister for Communications to select the President and the Board of the BIPT, Belgium’s regulator in the communications sector.

Peter’s competition practice focuses on merger control and joint ventures, actions under Article 102 TFEU (he acted as counsel to Netia and Tele 2 in the Commission Decision against Telekomunikacja Polska in June 2011, and to Si.mobil in its appeal to the General Court against the Commission’s Decision in 2014, with both cases resulting in positive settlements for Netia and Si.Mobil), extensive advisory work on the EU’s Broadband Guidelines including initial advisory work for the Greek government in the FTTH project, vertical distribution and licensing practices (both before the European Commission and before national competition and regulatory authorities), and the implementation of antitrust compliance programmes for  firms across a wide range of industries. He has particular expertise in the application of competition policy to regulated network industries and infrastructures. Peter was lead Competition counsel before the European Commission in two of the world’s largest announced technology/telecommunications-related mergers, including Vodafone/Airtouch and WorldCom/Sprint, and has more recently been EU counsel in mergers involving Carlyle/Commscope, MCI/Sprint, Verizon/MCI, Epson/Sanyo, Seagate/Maxtor, Vivendi/Activision, Dolby/Doremi, and was the Greek government’s external legal advisor in its review of the Cosmote/Germanos merger. He was also the briefing solicitor in the successful MCI vs. EC Commission appeal.

His intellectual property practice consists primarily in advising clients on the interface between intellectual property rights protection and competition law, especially as regards to innovative products and services. He was one of a handful of European legal experts to be invited by the United States’ DoJ and FTC in May 2002 to give testimony on Hearings on “The Antitrust and Intellectual Property Interface” in Washington DC.

Academic Posts

Mr Alexiadis is the Visiting Professor and Course Coordinator for the LLM course on “Competition Law and Regulated Network Industries” at King’s College in London. Prior to his posting at King’s College, he was a Visiting Professor over the period 2003-2010 at Strathclyde University in the MBA Communications Policy course. Peter was also a Visiting Professor at the Annual ULB Brussels EU Summer School Seminar for over 15 years, lecturing on Intellectual Property.

Peer Review

Mr. Alexiadis is widely acknowledged in the professional press as a leader in his field in both competition law and communications law, having been included among The American Lawyer’s “Star Laterals of the Year” for 2003 when he joined Gibson Dunn, and having been named as one of the leading communications and competition law practitioners in Belgium and the European Union by peer group publications such as Chambers, Global Counsel, Legal Experts EMEA and International Who’s Who for well over a decade. Chambers Europe writes: “Market opinion universally names him as one of the most important TMT practitioners in Belgium, with his telecoms work highlighted as being of a particularly high calibre”, while Chambers Global notes that “he has a deep knowledge of competition law at an international level, not just a European one. He is also very pragmatic and always provides a visible solution as well as a theoretical one.” EMEA Legal 500 states that he has an “in-depth understanding of the EU institutions.”

Mr. Alexiadis has been described as one of the leading three attorneys in the world in the communications sector by Euromoney’s “Best of the Best” publication, and is listed among the top 10 “most highly regarded” regulatory communications lawyers worldwide in The International Who’s Who of Regulatory Communications Lawyers 2013, which describes him as a “leading notary” in the communications area, and as an “exceptional practitioner” who is an “expert in EU communications policy” (2012 edition). He was also named Best Lawyers ‘Lawyer of the Year’ in the area of Media Law 2014-5, and ranked as a leading EU Competition lawyer by IFLR1000 2014.  Most recently he has been recognized by Who’s Who Legal “Thought Leaders Global Elite” 2019 and named Best Lawyers‘ 2019 Brussels Telecommunications Law “Lawyer of the Year”, as well as being included in the 2019 Best Lawyers in Belgium listing for Competition/Antitrust Law, European Union Law, Media Law, Technology Law and Telecommunications Law.

Publications

Mr Alexiadis writes regularly on issues of competition law and practice and communications policy, and is the EC Affairs editor of the European Intellectual Property Review, the International Company & Commercial Law Review and the Utilities Law Review.

The following are some of the more recent articles authored by Mr. Alexiadis:

• Author of Chapter on “Broadband Policy”, EU State Aids by L. Hancher, 5^th (pending).
• Author of “Merger Control in Regulated Sectors: A Bridge Too Far?”, Liber Amicorum Ian S. Forrester QC LL.D (pending).
• Author of “Europe in the Round”, InterMEDIA, September 2015, Vol. 43, Issue 3.
• Author of “Policy Options for a Revised EU Access & Interconnection Regime”, Digiworld Economic Journal, no. 98, p. 85, 2nd Q. 2015.
• Co-author of “Commission discretion unchained” published in Competition Law Insight, March 2015.
• Co-author of “Net neutrality in Europe: Reconciling the Irreconcilable”, Financier Worldwide, June 2014.
• Co-author of  a Gibson Dunn client alert entitled “The ECJ Confirms That “Public Undertakings” or Firms with “Special or Exclusive Rights” are Presumed to Be Acting Illegally: the Greek Lignite Case” July 2014.
• Co-author of “Structural Remedies under European Union Antitrust Rules”, in e-Competitions Bulletin, No 2-2013, p.21.
• Contributor to the CERRE study on “Regulatory stability and the challenges of re-regulating”, published by the Centre on Regulation in Europe (“CERRE”), February 2013 (study findings presented and discussed at a special CERRE Executive Workshop in March 2013).
• Author of “The application of competition law to the energy sector”, 6th International IMEDIPA Conference, Bucharest, June 28-29, 2012.
• Author of “Balancing the Application of Ex Post and Ex Ante Disciplines under Community Law in Electronic Communications Markets: Square Pegs in Round Holes?” in Rights and Remedies in a Liberalised and Competitive Internal Market (edited by Eugène Buttigieg, Jean Monnet Professor, University of Malta), March 2012.
• Author of “Cartels in the utilities sector: An overview of EU and national case law” in eCompetitions Bulletin, No44484, March 27, 2012.
• Co-author of “Free Market 1: Copyright 0 – UK Premier League Loses Away from Home” in Volume 18, Issue 6 of the Utilities Law Review, 2012.
• Co-author of “European Court of Justice Delivers Landmark Judgment in UK Premier League Referral” in Volume 23, Number 19 of EuroWatch, a Thomson Reuters publication, October 2011.
• Co-author of “Enforcement Of EU Communications Regulation At The Crossroads: Satisfying The Doctrine Of ‘Taking The Utmost Account’ Through The Use Of The Concept Of ‘Ignoring In Its Entirety'” in Volume 18, Issue 5 of the Utilities Law Review, 2011.
• Co-author of “IIC TMF Brussels 2011 – The Elusive Common Market Goal” in Intermedia by IIC, 2011.
• Co-author of “The European NGA Recommendation: The Banal, the Controversial and the Inconclusive” in Intermedia by IIC, 2010.
• Author of “Next Generation Access: Italy Experiments with a Joint Investment Model” in Utilities Law Review, Volume 18 Issue 1, 2010.
• Co-Author of “Regulation and Competition Law in Telecommunications and Other Network Industries” in The Oxford Handbook on Regulation, 2010.
• Co-author of “The Future of Telecommunications Regulation”, IIC Yearbook, 2009.
• Co-author of “Diverging but Increasingly Converging: The U.S. Supreme Court in linkLine – A European Perspective” in the online magazine for Global Competition Policy, April 2009.
• Author of “Informative and Interesting: The CFI Rules in Deutsche Telekom v. European Commission”, GCP Magazine, May 2008.
• Co-author of “Strict Line on Predatory Pricing Upheld in Europe”, Lexis Nexis, Martindale-Hubbell, January 30, 2007.
• Author of “A Tale of Two Cities: The H3G Judicial Reviews in the UK and Ireland – Unwelcome Implications for the EU’s Regulatory Framework for Electronic Communications”, UK Competition Law Journal, volume 5, June 2006.
• Author of “Competizione tra piatta forme”, Beltel, 2005 (in Italian).
• Author of “Key legal issues under the new EU regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services”, in “La Constituzion del mercato delle telecommunicazioni fisse e mobile”, Rubbetino, 2005.
• Co-author of “Competition Scrutiny of Media and Broadcasting”, Global Competition Review’s European Antitrust Review, 2005 and 2006.
• Co-author of “Revisiting Competition Law and Regulatory Analyses of Consolidations in the Communications Sector”, Financier Worldwide, July, 2004.
• Co-author of “The Application of the Concept of Technology Neutrality Under the New ECNS Regulatory Framework”, ECTA Review, 2004.
• Author of “New Regulatory Framework: New Way of Thinking”, Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Media and Telecommunication Lawyers, 2003.
• Co-author of “Dealing with Dominance”, the Australia and New Zealand Chapter, Kluwer Law International, 2004.

Education

University of London, LL.M. (Merit) 1988

University of Sydney, LL.M. (Hons) 1987

University of Sydney, LL.B. (cum laude) 1983

Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, Certificate in Public International Law (cum laude) 1983

University of Sydney, B.A. 1982

Membership of Professional Bodies

Law Society of England and Wales

Member of the New South Wales Bar

Member of the “E” List, Brussels Bar

International Bar Association

Member of the International Institute for Communications

Languages

English (fluent)

Greek (mother tongue)

French (conversational)