III. Discussion

This application seeks permission for a stock transaction under Public Utilities Code § 854. We established the $25,000 deposit requirement in a different context: for an applicant seeking a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) to act as a long distance reseller in California.² In the CPCN situation, an applicant is seeking to initiate a new business, or enter a new line of business. Under § 854, in contrast, an applicant is seeking to merge, acquire or control either directly or indirectly a public utility doing business in California.

Here, while Almendral is acquiring, through a stock transaction, indirect control of Americatel, Americatel is already in business in California. Almendral is not seeking to enter the telecommunications business in the first instance. None of Americatel's services, management or rates will change, and the change will be transparent to customers.

In some § 854 cases, we impose the same rules on the applicant as we do for a CPCN application. Thus, for example, in D.00-02-029, we required the acquirer to demonstrate that it had "a minimum of $25,000 in cash or cash equivalent, reasonably liquid and readily available to meet the firm's start-up costs."³ However, in that case, the acquirer was purchasing the assets and CPCNs of the telecommunications reseller.

Here, Almendral is acquiring Telecom Italia's interest in ENTEL Chile, and with it control of Americatel. Thus, Almendral is and will be removed from the day-to-day operations of Americatel. Almendral is not attempting to start up a new telecommunications carrier. When we imposed the $25,000 requirement, we said we were doing so to cover a new switchless reseller's start-up costs:

After reviewing all the evidence in this proceeding and applying a certain amount of common sense, we conclude that the minimum financial requirement for switchless resellers may be reduced to $25,000, plus any deposits required by the underlying [interexchange carrier], an amount corresponding to our finding of a typical switchless reseller's start-up costs.⁴

Under the specific circumstances of this case, the need for a $25,000 deposit is not apparent. Almendral has substantial assets in Chile. Americatel is a going concern. Thus, we are not presented with a situation in which a new company is starting up a switchless reseller. We therefore modify D.05-03-033 to remove the $25,000 requirement, and we therefore grant the petition for modification.