2. Background
On April 5, 2010, NobelBiz VoIP Services, Inc. (NBVS), a Delaware corporation, filed an application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) to provide limited facilities-based and resold competitive local exchange telecommunications services in the service territories of Pacific Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T California (AT&T), Verizon California Inc. (Verizon), SureWest Telephone (SureWest), and Citizens Telecommunications Company of California, Inc., d/b/a Frontier Communication Company of California (Citizens). NBVS requests authority to provide competitive local exchange carrier services through the use of one or more of its own switches and through the resale of other providers' services, including local transport and termination. NBVS proposes to provide voice and data communications services, mainly to business customers. NBVS' principal place of business is located at 5857 Owens Avenue, Suite 202, Carlsbad, CA 92008.
On May 7, 2010, the Commissions Consumer Protection and Safety Division (CPSD) filed a protest to Application (A.) 10-04-003 (Protest). NBVS replied to the Protest on June 1, 2010. NBVS and CPSD are the only parties to this proceeding.
On July 23, 2010, a prehearing conference (PHC) was held in San Francisco to establish the service list for the proceeding, discuss the scope of the proceeding, and develop a procedural timetable for the management of the proceeding. On August 4, 2010, the assigned Commissioner issued a Scoping Memo and Ruling of Assigned Commissioner (Scoping Memo), which in part required that evidentiary hearings were necessary, but that a second PHC would be held after briefs were filed in order to assess whether evidentiary hearings would still be necessary.
NBVS and CPSD each filed Opening Briefs on November 1, 2010 and Reply Briefs on November 15, 2010. On November 18, 2010, NBVS and CPSD requested, via e-mail, a continuance of the second PHC in order to discuss possible settlement. This request was granted by the assigned Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) via e-mail on the same day. We confirm this ruling herein.
On January 25, 2011, NBVS filed Amended Application of NobelBiz VoIP Services, Inc. (Amended Application), which addressed the regulatory matters that had not been disclosed in NBVS' original application, and had been at the heart of CPSD's Protest. On February 11, 2011, CPSD and NBVS filed a Joint Parties Motion for Commission Adoption of Settlement (Motion).1
1 The settlement, which was attached to the Motion is referred to throughout this decision as "Settlement Agreement."
