Profile: Lim Chong Kin

Regulatory Communications

Biography: Regulatory Communications

Under Chong Kin's leadership, Drew & Napier LLC's telecoms, media and technology (TMT) practice group has consistently been ranked as the leading information technology, telecommunications, broadcasting and multimedia legal practice in Singapore. Chong Kin's client base spans the entire spectrum in the TMT sector, ranging from the regulators to industry players including global telecommunications carriers, service providers, network operators, hardware manufacturers, equipment suppliers, leading global broadcasters and content providers.

The TMT practice group achieved a Chambers Asia 2008 ranking as the only Band 1 firm in Singapore. Chong Kin's team has been described as "the best", "with superior strength in regulatory matters", and which clients found to "bring a high degree of understanding of our requirements, and the regulator's priorities. They know what will realistically succeed and give accurate advice on what to expect".

On the regulatory front, Chong Kin played a key role in Singapore's development of competition regulation in the telecommunications, media and postal industries. Since 1999, he has routinely advised competition authorities on liberalisation, market access, competition regulation, merger reviews and enforcement issues. In 2000, he was engaged by the telecoms regulator as the lead Singapore counsel to draft the country's first competition law framework to facilitate full liberalisation of the telecoms industry. He was reappointed in 2004 to revise the Telecoms Competition Code and to draft the merger control framework. Separately, Chong Kin was appointed as lead Singapore counsel to draft the Media Market Conduct Code 2002 and continues to advise the media regulator on its implementation and enforcement. Most recently, Chong Kin advised the postal regulator on liberalisation of the postal industry and was tasked to draft the proposed Postal Competition Code. Chong Kin's other notable regulatory communications undertakings include assisting the telecoms regulator to review the dominant licensee's reference interconnection offer and in drafting the regulatory and auction framework for the allocation of 2G, 3G and wireless broadband access radio frequency spectrums.

On the industry front, Chong Kin routinely assists leading global carriers and broadcasting operators in establishing points of presence in Singapore, where he is often asked to advise on all aspects of corporate, licensing, regulatory and market-access issues. Most recently, Chong Kin assisted a new entrant to obtain a facilities-based operator (FBO) licence to deploy a regional undersea cable system. He has also represented multinationals with significant Singapore operations in merger review filings, including successfully obtaining merger control clearance for AT&T/SBC, Reliance/FLAG, AsiaNetcom/C2C and Connect Holdings/PacNet.

Chong Kin's media experience includes assisting leading media content providers in regulatory and licensing affairs, and negotiation of media and entertainment-related agreements, such as broadcast licence agreements and service provider agreements.

The International Who's Who of Competition Lawyers 2008 recognises Chong Kin for his expertise. Asia-Pacific Legal 500: 2008 recognises him as a competition and regulatory expert. Chambers Asia 2008 also ranked Chong Kin as the only Singapore lawyer in Band 1 for TMT, describing him as "friendly, efficient, committed and approachable" and as someone who "quickly understands the issues and is sensitive to [clients'] tight deadlines". PLC's Which Lawyer Survey 2008 lists Chong Kin as a recognised lawyer in competition/antitrust.

Competition

Biography: Competition

Chong Kin played a key role in the development of sectorial competition regulation in Singapore, in particular in the telecommunications, media and postal industries. Since 1999, he has routinely advised the sectorial competition authorities on liberalisation, market access, competition regulation, merger reviews and enforcement issues. In 2000, he was engaged by the telecoms regulator as the lead Singapore counsel to draft the country's first competition law framework to facilitate full liberalisation of the industry. He was re-appointed in 2004 to revise the Telecoms Competition Code and to draft the accompanying advisory guidelines (including the consolidation review guidelines). On media, Chong Kin was appointed to draft the first Media Market Conduct Code 2002 and has been advising the media regulator on implementation and enforcement of the code. Most recently, Chong Kin advised the postal regulator on liberalisation of the postal industry and was tasked to draft the proposed Postal Competition Code.

With the coming into force of merger control regulation under the Singapore Competition Act in July 2007, Chong Kin secured the first merger clearance for STM and Intel in respect to their US$3.6 billion proposed worldwide merger. Since then, Chong Kin worked on three other merger filings before the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS). In addition, Chong Kin's transactional experience includes most of the significant telecoms M&As including securing competition law clearance for AT&T/SBC, Sprint/Nexel, Reliance/FLAG, AsiaNetcom/C2C and Connect Holdings/Pacific Internet.

Other recent notable competition law matters handled by Chong Kin include leading an international consortium appointed to study and recommend competition policy and law for implementation in East Asian economies; leading an international consortium appointed by the CCS to study the effects of price recommendations by trade and professional association; advising one of the world's most admired airlines on the competition law issues arising from their proposed share acquisition of a Chinese airline company; advising on Singapore merger filing requirements in respect of a worldwide acquisition of the business line of a leading food and beverage multinational corporation; acting for acquiring parties in securing unconditional merger clearance from the telecommunications regulator (IDA) in respect of the takeover of Pacific Internet, a NASDAQ-listed telco; lead Singapore counsel in advising an association in the financial industry on its worldwide restructuring exercise which necessitates a filing made to competition authorities; and assisting various trade associations and multinational companies on instituting competition law compliance programmes.

Who's Who Legal - Singapore 2008 cited Chong Kin as a leading competition and regulatory communications lawyer while the Asia Pacific Legal 500 recognised him as a competition and regulatory expert. Practical Law Company's Which Lawyer Survey 2008 lists Chong Kin as a recognised lawyer in competition and antitrust. Chambers Asia 2008 also ranked him as the only Singapore lawyer in band 1 for technology, media and telecommunications.