3. Telmatch's Past History

Telmatch began its activity in California under a different name and different business structure. In light of later developments, it is important to briefly summarize the early California history of this company. Geo Communications, LLC (Geo) filed an application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) on September 27, 1996. In support of its technical showing, Geo stated that its personnel have experience in the telecommunications industry and that no one associated with the applicant had been previously associated with an nondominant interexchange carrier (NDIEC) which had filed for bankruptcy or gone out of business. Further, Geo attached to its application the profiles of its management personnel: George A. Mueller, III, chief executive officer and managing member; Dr. Howell J. Lynch, Jr., chief financial officer; Deborah I. Young, vice president of marketing and customer service; Jeffrey Bockmeyer, vice president of sales; Stacy Pilote, sales manager; Sheila D. Northcutt, management information director; and Kathleen K. Mueller-Engel, customer service manager.

The Articles of Organization attached to the application listed George A. Mueller, III as having a 99.00% interest in Geo and Kathleen K. Engel has having a 1.00% interest in Geo.

In D.96-12-055, the Commission granted Geo's request for a CPCN. On January 7, 1997, Geo filed Advice Letter (AL) no. 1 which contained Geo's Tariff Schedule applicable to California Intrastate InterLATA and IntraLATA Toll Interexchange Telephone Communications. On February 19, 1997, Geo filed AL no. 2 which requested a change in the corporate structure of Geo from a limited liability corporation to a regular business corporation to be known as Geo Communications, Inc. doing business as (dba) Telmatch. Also, in AL no. 2, Geo represented that: "The new corporation has the same officers, directors, and shareholders as Geo Communications, LLC with the only difference being a change in the corporate designation from LLC to `Inc.'." On November 25, 1998, Geo filed AL no. 3 which requested a "change in the corporate name of Geo to Telmatch Telecommunications, Inc." The stated purpose was "to avoid customer confusion between the true corporate name and the business name..." No other change was requested in AL no. 3. On December 31, 1998, Telmatch Telecommunications, Inc. filed AL no. 4. which requested, among other things, "the correct corporate name" to be reflected on its tariff sheets.