Douglas G. Bonner

Douglas Bonner has forty years of experience as a litigator, regulatory counsel and transactional attorney representing wireline and wireless providers, cable TV, VoIP and broadcast companies in regulatory matters and in federal court litigation.  He has litigated significant telecommunications industry and commercial disputes, defended clients in regulatory enforcement proceedings, and advised clients on mergers & acquisitions.  Several of his cases have established important legal and regulatory precedent. Mr. Bonner also helps clients negotiate beneficial terms in their communications service, distributed antenna system and other service agreements.

Mr. Bonner also counsels clients on privacy and data security issues arising under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act or Truth in Caller ID Act, the California Consumer Privacy Act and Consumer Privacy Rights Act, and other state privacy statutes, or international transfers of personal data under the GDPR.  He has prepared and presented numerous corporate compliance programs relating to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, or helping clients evaluate and comply with various options to satisfy EU regulations protecting the personal data of EU citizens.

Mr. Bonner’s telecom litigation experience includes representing telecommunications carriers in interconnection, submarine cable and other disputes, cases involving claims under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, access charge disputes, and FCC and state regulatory enforcement and contested case proceedings.  Mr. Bonner has also defended businesses in consumer class actions involving alleged violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and other privacy laws, and of taxes on communications services.

In addition, Mr. Bonner assists enterprise customers in negotiating services contracts with wireless communications and Internet service providers. This includes negotiating distributed antenna system (DAS), master service agreements and subtending service agreements.  Mr. Bonner has successfully assisted clients terminating agreements for cause without termination liability, and resolved disputes under contractual dispute resolution provisions under advantageous terms.

Mr. Bonner is a frequent speaker, moderator and author on issues involving communications and privacy regulation.  Mr. Bonner is a former Co-Chair of the Federal Communications Bar Association’s Privacy and Data Security Committee (2014-2017).  Mr. Bonner has been frequently recognized as a leading lawyer in Telecom, Broadcast & Satellite by Chambers, USA.

Representative Experience

• Represented developer of online municipal bond trading platform in Delaware Chancery Court action seeking reformation of contract to correct error in drafting prorated earnout compensation terms (2023 - )
• Represented international gateway provider in responding to federal agency cease and desist letters relating to carriage of illegal robocall traffic.
• Represented online publisher of commercial business reviews in winning dismissal of state court business disparagement claims based on Communications Decency Act and contractual defenses (2022)
• Defended a Telephone Consumer Protection Act consumer class action brought against a Fortune 100 diversified media company involving alleged unlawful telemarketing calls.
• Won dismissal of a consumer class action against a wireless carrier for millions of dollars of alleged unlawfully billed state excise taxes.
• Negotiated a Consent Decree of a $1.5 Million FCC enforcement proceedings against a carrier brought by the FCC.
• Won a nearly $9 million AAA arbitration award for reimbursement of payments of unlawfully tariffed multistate SS7 messaging access charges for a national wireless carrier. Following opposing petitions to confirm and vacate the award, a federal district court entered judgment for client resulting in full payment of award.
• On behalf of a national wireless carrier, filed a successful petition for limited waiver of the FCC’s CPNI rules, to enable the requesting carrier to complete a pending implementation of a new uniform billing platform.
• After winning a primary jurisdiction referral of a federal district court complaint, won a Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission decision in favor of a national wireless carrier, concluding that the wireless carrier did not breach its interconnection agreement by refusing to pay $4.5 million of access charges for predominantly local wireless traffic terminating to third-party carriers.
• Briefed and argued the first interconnection appeal under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 before a U.S. Court of Appeals, resulting in the arbitrated interconnection agreement for the state of Washington being affirmed in its entirety.
• In an FCC compliant proceeding against a major long distance carrier, established FCC precedent that competitive access charges that exceed the local access charges of the corresponding ILEC are not, per se, unreasonable.
• Successfully filed federal court preliminary injunction action on behalf of the owner of Ricochet wireless mobile data technology against the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), ending LIPA’s then-existing moratorium on new pole attachment agreements. The litigation settlement resulted in the first new pole attachment agreement by LIPA since its inception.
• Established FCC precedent granting Eligible Telecommunications Carrier status to a Tribally-owned carrier making it eligible for High Cost support throughout its 400 square mile reservation.
• Assisted a regional Tribal provider in winning a nearly $50 Million award from the U.S. Department of Commerce/NTIA for the deployment of broadband infrastructure under the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program.
• Represented Tribal carrier participants winning grants under every FCC-administered reverse auction for rural broadband deployment support from 2013 to 2023.