X. Assignment of Proceeding
Rachelle B. Chong is the Assigned Commissioner and Myra J. Prestidge is the assigned ALJ in this proceeding.
1. Notice of the application appeared in the Daily Calendar on April 14, 2006.
2. No protests have been filed.
3. A hearing is not required.
4. In prior decisions, the Commission authorized competition in providing interexchange services for carriers meeting specified criteria.
5. In prior decisions, the Commission authorized competition, by carriers meeting specified criteria, in providing local exchange telecommunications services within the service territories of Pacific, Verizon, SureWest, and CTC.
6. Applicant has a minimum of $25,000 of cash or cash equivalent that is reasonably liquid and readily available to meet its start-up expenses.
7. Applicant has sufficient additional cash or cash equivalent to cover any deposits that may be required by other telecommunications carriers in order to provide the proposed service.
8. Applicant's management has sufficient technical expertise to operate the company.
9. On May 18, 2005, Applicant and its parent company, North Central Equity, LLC acquired the assets and customer base of Acceris Communications, Inc., Acceris Communications Corp., and their Canadian parent company, Counsel Corporation.
10. The FCC has found that on 11 occasions between 2003 and 2005, Acceris Communications, Acceris Communications Corp., and a related company, Acceris Communications Partners, engaged in the unlawful slamming of customers.
11. Applicant and its parent company, North Central Equity LLC, have no relationship to Acceris Communications, Inc., or Acceris Communications Corp., except for the acquisition of the assets and customer base of these companies.
12. Applicant and its parent company, North Central Equity LLC, have no shareholders, directors, officers, or managers in common with Acceris Communications, Inc. or Acceris Communications Corp.
13. All of the FCC decisions which found Acceris Communications Inc. or Acceris Communications Corp. in violation of slamming regulations, except for one decision, addressed consumer complaints filed before Applicant acquired the assets and customer base of these companies.
14. The remaining FCC decision addressed a customer complaint filed against Acceris Communications Corp. only six days after Applicant acquired the assets and customer base of this company.
15. The FCC complaints against Acceris Communications, Inc. and Acceris Communications Corp. resulted from slamming violations or errors by the third party verifier for these companies.
16. Applicant is using a different third party verifier than the company used by Acceris Communications, Inc., and Acceris Communications Corp. before the sale of their assets to Applicant.
17. Applicant now has a regulatory complaint database which tracks any complaints received, in order to ensure that Applicant promptly responds to any complaints from customers or regulatory agencies.
18. Applicant is no longer soliciting new customers by telemarketing directed at the general public.
19. As part of its application, Applicant submitted a draft of its initial tariff. Except for the deficiencies noted in Attachment A, Applicant's draft tariff complies with the Commission's requirements.
20. Applicant will not be constructing any facilities pursuant to this CPCN.
1. Applicant has the financial ability and technical expertise to provide the proposed service.
2. Applicant has demonstrated the ability to operate as a telecommunications carrier in a lawful manner that appropriately serves the public.
3. Public convenience and necessity required that Applicant's provision of resold competitive local exchange services be subject to the terms and conditions set forth herein.
4. Since Applicant will not be constructing any facilities, it can be seen with certainty that there will be no significant effect on the environment.
5. The application should be granted to the extent set forth below.
6. Applicant, once granted a CPCN, should be subject to the applicable Commission rules, decisions, General Orders, and statutes that pertain to California's public utilities.
7. Because of the public interest in competitive local exchange services, the following order should be effective immediately.
IT IS ORDERED that:
1. A certificate of public convenience and necessity is granted to Acceris Management and Acquisition LLC (Applicant) to operate as a resale provider of competitive local exchange services, subject to the terms and conditions set forth below.
2. Applicant is authorized to provide local exchange service in the service territories of Pacific Bell Telephone Company, Verizon California Inc., SureWest Telephone, and Citizens Telecommunications Company of California, Inc.
3. Applicant is authorized to file tariff schedules for the provision of competitive local exchange services with the deficiencies noted in Attachment A corrected. Applicant may not offer services until tariffs are on file. Applicant's initial filing shall be made in accordance with General Order (GO) 96-A, excluding Sections IV, V, and VI. The tariff shall be effective not less than one day after tariff approval by the Commission's Telecommunications Division. Applicant shall comply with its tariffs.
4. The certificate granted, and the authority to render service under the rates, charges and rules authorized, will expire if not exercised within 12 months after the effective date of this order.
5. The corporate identification number assigned to Applicant, U-6971-C, shall be included in the caption of all original filings with this Commission, and in the titles of other pleadings filed in existing cases.
6. Applicant shall comply with all applicable rules adopted in the Local Exchange Competition proceeding (Rulemaking 95-04-043/Investigation
95-04-044), the Commission's rules and regulations for nondominant interexchange carriers set forth the D.93-05-010 and D.90-08-032, as well as all other applicable Commission rules, decisions, GOs and statutes that pertain to California public utilities, subject to the exemptions granted in this decision.
7. Applicant shall comply with the requirements applicable to competitive local exchange carriers included in Attachment A to this decision.
8. Applicant is not authorized to construct facilities.
9. Application 06-03-025 is closed.
This order is effective today.
Dated October 5, 2006, at San Francisco, California.
MICHAEL R. PEEVEY
President
GEOFFREY F. BROWN
DIAN M. GRUENEICH
JOHN A. BOHN
RACHELLE B. CHONG
Commissioners
