2. Background
Freedom Telecommunications, Inc. (Applicant), a California corporation which maintains its principal place of business in Marina Del Rey, California, currently holds a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) authorizing the provision of resold local exchange services pursuant to Decision (D.) 08-08-016.
Pursuant to its existing CPCN authority, Applicant currently provides resold local exchange services to both residential and business customers in California.
In this application, Applicant is requesting expanded CPCN authority so that the company may undertake new projects that will expand its service offerings and benefit California customers. At present, Applicant anticipates new projects in urban areas within San Diego County, Los Angeles County, and
San Francisco County, but states that the exact location of these projects is not known. Applicant aims to provide its services to commercial and community facilities, such as hospitals, libraries, schools, and governmental agencies, in which broadband solutions are not readily available.
Applicant states that its current business provides "last-mile" data solutions via fiber using existing conduits that are located both underground and inside existing buildings and infrastructure. Applicant is applying for full facilities-based authority because in order to provide expanded service, Applicant may need to perform additional construction activities. For example, Applicant may need to insert its own conduits underground or within existing structures when there are no existing conduits in place or there is not adequate space on the existing conduits. In some circumstances, Applicant may also need to install conduit or fiber in the public rights of way (PROW) and existing utility easements in order to carry out its projects, and may sometimes wish to construct new utility poles in these areas. These activities will also generally require trenching. Applicant further anticipates that in some cases, the company may need to construct new facilities in order to provide "last-mile" services to customers, but would apply to the Commission for authorization of these projects and would undergo any required environmental review.
Applicant also requests authorization to utilize the expedited 21-day process for Energy Division (ED) staff review of projects which Applicant believes may be exempt from the requirements of California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Applicant states that certain of the above-described projects fall within various categorical exemptions under CEQA, and that the Commission has already permitted several of its competitors, including ClearLinx Network Corporation and CA-CLEC LLC, to utilize this expedited process for CEQA review.2
2 See D.06-04-063 (Clearlinx Network Corporation) and D.06-04-067 (CA-CLEC, LLC).
