Article 6 § 1 does not say “equality of arms”. This requirement — each party must be able to present its case under conditions that do not place it at a clear disadvantage vis-à-vis its opponent — is a construction of the Court, derived from the notion of “fairness”.
It was on this basis that the United Kingdom was found in breach in the Steel and Morris case (15 February 2005): a libel trial lasting several years, in which two activists without means, deprived of legal aid, faced a multinational's lawyers, could not be fair.
The reasoning reaches beyond the case. It establishes that real access to justice — and not merely the formal right to go to court — is part of a fair trial. This is a question faced by any operator in dispute with the head of its network.