In that case, we are going to get started. Let's go on the record. Good morning. This is the time set for the public comment and evidentiary hearing in the matter of the application of Crosstown Fiber AZ, LLC for approval of a certificate of convenience and necessity to provide interstate telecommunication services in Arizona. This is docket number TDash21376ADash25Dash0248. My name is Donna Sansone,
and I am the administrative law judge assigned to preside over this matter. I'm going to start by taking appearances. We'll begin with the company, Crosstown. Good morning. Michael Patton, the law firm of Osborne and Maladon on behalf of Crosstown. Thank you. And, your witness? And appearing by Webex is our witness, Steve Wong. Thank you, mister Patton. And for staff? Good morning, your honor. Bridget Humphrey on behalf of staff. And with me this morning at council table is staff witness, Kendria Allen. Miss Allen is the supervisor for Jackie Neece who has a scheduling issue today,
so she'll be presenting Jackie Neece's testimony. Alright. Thank you so much. In that case, let me ask, are there any procedural, issues or items that we need to address before we begin, mister Patton? I don't believe so, your honor. And staff? None. Thank you. In that case, we will move on to public comment. This is the time for any member of the public present to provide comments on this matter. Are there any members of the public who would like to provide comment today regarding Crosstown's application? I do not see any in the hearing room. I do see we have one call in user.
I'm going to unmute and see if they are here to provide comment or if they're just here to observe. If you are here by telephone and you would like to present comment today, please go ahead and speak at this time. I will assume assume that they are here to just observe then. So let the record reflect that no one has indicated a desire to speak. We'll move into opening statements. Mister Patton, would the company like to make an opening statement? We'll waive opening. And miss Humphrey will stop. Alright. Thank you. In that case, we'll move into the presentation of witnesses and evidence.
Mister mister Patton, are you ready to call your first witness? I am. We call Steve Wong. Alright. Mister Wong, can you hear us okay? Yes. I can. Alright, mister Wong. I'm gonna have the court reporter swear you in. Sir, would you raise your right hand? Would you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Thank you. Mister Patton, you can proceed. Alright. Thank you. Good afternoon where you are, mister Wong. Could you please state your name and business address for the record? Sure. Steve Wong. My business address is 333 East Butterfield Road,
Suite 120, in Lombard, Illinois, ZIP code 60147. And what is your title and current job responsibility? It is, chief financial officer, and I'm responsible for all the, financial management and accounting functions of the company. Right. Can you tell me a little bit about your background and experience in the telecommunications industry? Yes. I have, approximately twenty five years of experience in the telecommunications industry, focused primarily in the, enterprise and commercial services markets.
Most recently, I was the general manager of a business unit for a, another Chicago based, telecom company called Peerless Networks. And prior to that, I've worked in a variety of private and, publicly held, telecommunications companies. Alright. Thank you. Mister Wong, we have marked three exhibits, which are labeled exhibit a one, a two, and a three. And for the record, exhibit a one is the application filed 12/02/2025. A two, are the responses to staff's first set of data requests, which was filed 01/21/2026.
And a three is an amendment to the application filed 03/12/2026. Do you have those in front of you? Yes. I do. Do you have any material updates to those exhibits at this time? Yes. We received one additional, state certification for the state of Ohio in December. Alright. Thank you. With that update, do you adopt exhibits a one through a three as part of your direct testimony today? Yes. I do. Your honor, I'd move admission of exhibits a one, a two, and a three. Any objection from staff? No objection. With no objection,
exhibits a one, a two, and a three are hereby admitted. Mister Wong, have you had a chance to review the staff report that was docketed in this proceeding and that has been marked as exhibit s one? Yes. I reviewed it and have it in front of me as well. Within the staff report, have you reviewed staff's recommendations and proposed conditions related to the granting of the CCNN? Yes. I have. And does the company agree to abide by staff's recommendations and conditions? Yes. So we agree with staff's recommendations and will abide by the conditions proposed by staff. Alright.
Thank you, mister Wong. And with that, mister Wong is available for Cross. Thank you. Miss Humphrey, do you have any questions for this witness? I do not, your honor. Thank you. Alright. Mister Wong, I do have a couple of questions. I believe you indicated that you have a copy of the exhibit a one. Do you have that in front of you? I have a I am. Alright. And then specifically on what's labeled as page four, specifically in section a six of the company's application. The company indicated that the company's affiliates have utilized a third party company,
ITG Communications, for its network operation center or NOC services. Are you personally familiar with the services that ITG Communications has provided to affiliates of Crosstown Fiber e z? Yeah. And in your opinion, has ITG Communications generally provided a satisfactory level of NOC services for the company's affiliates? Yes. They have. Alright. And are you aware of any issues, if any, that the company's affiliates have had utilizing ITG Communications NOC
services? No. We have not had any issues with ITG. Thank you. And then just for clarification purposes, on page four of the application in that same section a six, when asked about the the company's customer service center, the company simply responds, see above. Just for clarification, is the company referring to the information provided for ITG Communications, or are they referring to the information about how to contact Mike Underdown? The, customer care function is handled by ITG Communications, and so it's referring to ITG Communications.
We do have, obviously, ITG will forward on, requests directly to our staff, which is at, at, 333 East Butterfield, in Lombard, Illinois. Alright. Thank you so much. Now, moving to exhibit a two, do you have a copy of that exhibit as well? Yes. I do. Alright. And that is the company's responses to staff's first set of data requests. I'm specifically looking under SDR 1.11, where staff asked the company about whether it will be imposing a charge for dishonored checks.
In response to staff's data request, the company indicates that although it anticipates that most of its customers will pay through electronic payment options, if a customer presents payment via a dishonor check, the company, quote, intends to charge a $25 fee in such instances. I did not see a codification of that $25 fee, in any of the proposed tariff pages. I just wanted to confirm to your knowledge, does the company if its application is approved, does it intend to include that information in the tariff that it ultimately files with
the commission? Yes. We do. Alright. Thank you. And then you had made an amendment to the application to indicate that you have since been authorized or the company has since or an affiliate of the company has since been authorized to provide telecommunication services in the state of Ohio. Aside from that update, are there any other states or jurisdictions that the company had not previously listed that they are seeking, authority to provide telecommunication services in? No. No. There are no. Alright. Thank you so much.
Those are all of my questions. Mister Patton, any redirect? No redirect, your honor. Steph, any final questions? None, your honor. Thank you. In that case, mister Wong, I believe your testimony is complete. Mister Patton, does Crosstown have any other witnesses? No further witnesses, and we would rest our case. Alright. Thank you. In that case, we will move on to staff's testimony. Miss Humphrey, go ahead and call your first witness. Thank you, your honor. Staff calls Candria Allen. And, miss Allen, whenever you are ready, I will have the court reporter swear you in. Ma'am, would you raise your right hand, please? Do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give will be the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Thank you. Alright. Miss Humphrey, go ahead and answer your questions. Miss Allen, would you state your name and your business address for the record? My name is Candria Allen. Business address is 1200 West Washington Street, Phoenix, Arizona 85015. By whom are you sorry. 85007. By whom are you employed and at what capacity? I'm employed by the Arizona Corporation Commission as a public utilities manager. And do you supervise or manage, staff witness Jackie Niece?
Yes. Did you assign to miss Niece the review of the application filed in this case? I did. And did did, miss Nies prepare a staff report at your direction? Yes. Have you had an opportunity to review that staff report? Yes. As a matter of fact, you generally review and approve the staff reports of of the people you manage such as miss Neece. Is that correct? Correct. Do you have any additions or corrections or modifications to make to the staff report? Staff report? Yes. On page seven of the staff report,
the first sentence after the heading recommendations on the app application for CCNN, the sentence should read, staff recommends that the applicant's application for CCNN to provide private line telecommunications services and wholesale services to telecommunications carriers as listed in this report be approved. And you were looking at it what what has been marked as exhibit one is s one. Is that correct? Yes. And that is the staff report? Yes. Thank you. If, if you were asked the questions or asked to discuss the content of the staff
report as it as it exists now, would your summary and and, questions or your summary and content be the same? Yes. Thank you. Your honor, we would move for the admission of exhibit s one. Any objections from the company? No objection, your honor. With no objection, exhibit s one is hereby admitted. As part of miss Neece's review of of the application, did miss Niece, determine whether or not the company had the technical capabilities to provide the services requested? Yes. Did the staff also review whether the company had the financial means to provide the
services? Qualification? Yes. And finally, do you believe that the that the staff determine that the company has the managerial experience to provide the services in question? Yes. Do staff believe that the company is a fit and proper entity to provide the services requested? Yes. It does. And does staff believe granting the CCN in this case is in the public interest? Yes. On pages seven and eight of the staff report, staff lists several recommendations. Is that correct? Yes. And you've heard the company witness this morning indicate that that the company is willing to comply with the recommendations of staff and the conditions that we recommend for the
CCNN issuance. Correct? Yes. That's correct. Alright. And does staff still support all of the recommendations contained on pages seven and eight of the staff report? Yes. It does. Your honor, that includes concludes my questions for miss Allen. She is now available for Cross. Thank you, miss Humphrey. Any questions, mister Patton, for this witness? No questions, your honor. Alright. Miss Allen, I have just a couple of clarifying questions. You've already confirmed that staff believes that the company possesses the financial capability to provide the proposed services.
Can you briefly provide me with an explanation as to why staff believes this? Yes. I can. Basically, the company is going to rely on the financial resources of its parent company. And so, therefore, staff believes that they have the financial capabilities to provide service. You. And then with respect to the company's managerial capabilities, did staff consider any other factors aside from the company's key management team's years of experience? Alright. Thank you. Now, do you have a copy of the staff report in front of you?
Yes. Alright. So on page three of that staff report under specifically the review of complaint information section, staff indicated that, quote, the applicant has not been denied authority nor had authority revoked. The applicant in this case is, of course, a new entity. So I just wanna confirm that, did staff take any actions to confirm that neither the applicant nor any of its affiliates have been denied authority, or had its authority to provide telecommunication services revoked in any other jurisdiction?
Yes. I believe there was a general search of the, federal communications website and general Internet search as well. Alright. So to confirm, when staff was, searching the FCC's website, they also looked at the affiliates of the company in that search. Is that correct? Alright. Thank you. And then I just wanna confirm that staff is not seeking a performance bond from the company in this case? That's correct. And to confirm, does staff still believe that the company's proposed services should be classified as competitive?
Yes. That's correct. Does staff still believe a conditional waiver of Arizona administrative code section r 14 dash two dash one one one five c three is appropriate in this case subject to the condition that the company provide its contracts to staff at any time upon request. Yes. Thank you. And then just to confirm my final question, do staff still believe that the company's proposed rates and charges are just and reasonable? Yes. Thank you so much. Those are all of my questions. Miss Humphrey, any final redirect? No redirect,
your honor. Thank you. Mister Patton, any final questions? Nothing further, your honor. Thank you. Miss Allen, you can go ahead and step down. Thank you so much. Thank you. And that concludes staff's case as well. Excellent. Thank you. You can take it. It. Alright. In that case, we'll move to closing. Mister Patton, would Crosstown like to make a closing statement at this time? Thank you, your honor. We'd like to thank you for accelerating the hearing somewhat. Very appreciated. I am gonna order an expedited transcript. And if there's any way your honor could get the matter on the July open meeting, we would appreciate it.
I think June's a little bit optimistic. I was about to say, I I was waiting for you to say June, but July, I I believe that's possible. Thank you, mister Patton. Thank you. Miss Humphrey, anything from staff in closing? Briefly, your honor, staff staff, as you know, is recommending approval of the CCNN with the conditions, and, we thank the company for its cooperation and staff's review of this matter. Thank you. Alright. Thank you. Now I believe all of our exhibits have been admitted today. But before we finish, I just want to briefly touch base with our court reporter.
So I'm gonna have us go off the record for just a moment. Adam, at this time, do you have any questions, or is there anything that you need clarified before we go today? I don't. Thank you, judge. I have access to all the all the exhibits. I'm good. Thank you very much. Alright. Excellent. Thank you so much. In that case, we will go back on the record. Just to note, while we were off the record, I confirmed with the court reporter whether they needed anything clarified, and he did not. I will ask for a final time. Is there anything else that we need to address before we adjourn, mister Patton? Nothing further,
your honor. Thank you. Miss Humphreys? Nothing with Jeff. In that case, I wanna thank you all for your participation today. This matter will be taken under advisement, and a recommended opinion and order will be issued for the commission's consideration at a future open meeting. This hearing is adjourned. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you.