2. Background¹

Public Wireless, Inc. (Public Wireless or Applicant) seeks authority to provide full facilities-based and resold local exchange and access services to business customers in the service territories of Pacific Bell Telephone Company dba AT&T California (AT&T), Verizon California Inc. (Verizon), SureWest Telephone (SureWest), and Citizens Telephone Company (Citizens), as well as full facilities-based and resold interexchange services to such customers throughout California. Public Wireless expects to provide competitive local transport services, access, and nondominant interexchange services (Services). Specifically, Public Wireless expects to provide "gap" coverage for wireless providers, and intends to design and build alternative wireless siting solutions for placement in areas where traditional development costs and/or zoning and permitting processes have made deployment prohibitive. Public Wireless deploys such networks by purchasing from cable companies, and reselling to wireless carriers, the right to install equipment on cable strands owned or controlled by cable providers. Public Wireless also installs and operates equipment to support backhaul services for wireless voice service providers. Public Wireless will provide its service using backhaul linked by fiber optic cables with conversion equipment attached to poles, wires, fiber termination equipment, and other structures.

Pursuant to the full facilities-based authority requested, Public Wireless will undertake relatively minor construction activities, which will primarily take place in existing, well-used rights-of-way and utility easements in developed areas. Public Wireless will operate by installing equipment in or on existing streetlights, poles, towers, buildings, fiber, conduits, ducts, rights-of-way, trenches, and other facilities and structures of other entities, and will not need to construct any buildings, towers, conduits, poles, or trenches in California to provide the services for which it seeks authority.

The above-mentioned activities fall within several classes of projects that are exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and for which neither an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) nor a Negative Declaration is required. Occasionally, a portion of this activity will take place on private property in existing easements.

¹ Public Wireless filed its original application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) to provide limited facilities-based and resold competitive local exchange access and non-dominant interexchange services. The caption of the original application requested limited services. On June 2, 2009, it filed an amendment to its application in order to change the scope of the authority requested from limited facilities-based authority to full facilities-based authority. Pursuant to its amended application, applicant requests that the caption of this proceeding be modified to read as follows: APPLICATION OF PUBLIC WIRELESS, INC. FOR A CERTIFICATE OF PUBLIC CONVENIENCE AND NECESSITY IN ORDER TO PROVIDE FULL FACILITIES-BASED AND RESOLD COMPETITIVE LOCAL EXCHANGE, ACCESS AND INTEREXCHANGE SERVICE. Because we are granting full facilities-based service we grant the request to modify the caption of this application.