All right. Well, let's go on the record. This is the time set for the hearing on the application of Ripple Fiber Arizona LLC, docket number T-twenty1349A-twentyFive-sixteen for approval of a CCNN to provide private line telecommunications services in Arizona. The application also seeks the determination that the company's proposed services are competitive. I'm administrative law judge Brian Schneider. I'll be presiding over this hearing today. I'll start with taking appearances for the record,
and I'll start with the applicant. Good morning, your honor. Michael Patton, Snow and Wilmer on behalf of the applicant. Good morning. And for staff? Good morning, your honor. Robert Ridenour for staff. Good morning. Alright. I'm going to start, before we even get in with any procedural issues, just if there's any public comment, we're gonna do that portion of the hearing at this point. I do see a member in the audience. So is it your indication to provide public comment? No. Just observe. Okay. He wasn't in a microphone. The answer was no. He's just an observer. Otherwise, I don't see any other,
people either in front of me on the monitor or in the room seeking to make public comment. So I'm gonna close that portion of the hearing, and we can move to any procedural issues the parties have, before I'll ask for opening statements. Anything to discuss before we go right into the hearing? I don't believe so, your honor. No, your honor. Alright. We can have opening statements if you'd like. We waive opening statement. Perfect. Staff? Also waive opening statement. Making this, pretty easy. Well then, I'll ask, you to call your first witness.
We would call, Lance Vanderspey. Okay. And I appreciate you pronouncing that for me. And and do it one more time. Hopefully, I said it right. Vanderspey, and he will correct me if I'm wrong. Right. And and and how are we doing with that, sir? Excellent. Thank you. I can barely hear you. So can you either unmute yourself or make it louder? Try that. Your honor, that was pronounced excellently, Lance Vandersveil. Perfect. Thank you. Okay. And then I'll just let you guys take it away. Alright? Actually, before I do that, I'm gonna swear the witness in because that's my part of my job.
So at this time, sir, I'm gonna ask you to raise your right hand and, the court reporter is gonna swear you in. Sir, 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. Now you can take it away. Good morning, mister Vanderspae. Could you please provide your name and business address for the record, including spelling your name? Sure. My name is Lance Vanderspae. It's l a n c e space v a n space d e r space s p u y. My business address is Ripple Fiber,
6000 Fairview Road, South Park Towers, Suite 300, Charlotte, North Carolina. I'm the president of Ripple Fiber Arizona LLC. Alright. And in your job position, what are your responsibilities? I oversee the day to day operations of the business. I each department here facilitate the strategic alignment with success metrics, including business expansion, revenue growth, stakeholder engagement, and customer retention. Can you tell us a little bit about your background and experience in the telecommunications industry? Certainly. I'm a chartered accountant by qualification and registered as a CPA with,
State of Arizona. I received a bachelor of commerce in accounting, tax, and audit. I have over fifteen years experience in business management, demonstrating expertise in operational excellence, financial proficiency, and corporate entrepreneurship. Alright. And how long have you been with Ripple Fiber? A little over three years. Alright. Mister Vandispay, we have marked two exhibits on behalf of the applicants. And for the record, exhibit a one is the application which was filed January 27, 2025. And exhibit a two are the responses to staff's first set of data requests filed
06/20/2025. Do you have those exhibits in front of you? Do you have those exhibits in front of you, mister Vandersmee? I'm sorry. Yes. I do. Alright. And do you have any material updates to either of those exhibits? No. The only the only update in the one question we responded that we did not have the NOC that that has been established and is operational. Alright. Let me let me just add whether you have received additional authorizations to provide fiber based services in Idaho, Washington, Texas, Florida, and Arkansas. Is that correct?
Yes. We have done so as well. Yes. Okay. And those are in addition to the states that are identified in the application? Correct. Yes. Alright. And are you adopting exhibits a one and a two as part of your, direct testimony here today? Yes. I am. Alright. Your honor, I'd ask at this time that exhibits a one and a two be admitted. Any objection? No objection, your honor. This time, exhibits a one and a two are admitted. Alright. Mister Vanderspey, do you have the staff report in front of you which has been marked as exhibit s one? I do. And have you reviewed that staff report?
I have. Thank you. In particular, have you reviewed staff's recommendations and proposed conditions relating to the granting of the CCN? I have. Yes. And does the company agree to abide by staff's recommendations and conditions? Yes. We do. Thank you, mister Vanderspey, and he's available for cross examination. No questions, your honor. I didn't have a microphone for that. So, you probably did. So you told me there were no questions on your end. I have all my boxes checked, so there's no questions on my end either. So, thank you. You can be excused as a witness,
sir. Appreciate it very much. That'd be all. We are flying by. Any other witnesses, sir? We have no other witnesses, your honor. We would rest. Alright. Very good. Staff, it's your turn. Any witnesses? Thank you, your honor. Yes. Staff wants to call Cameron Nance to the stand. Or he's on video, I guess. Guess. Thank you. And, again, I'm gonna ask you to be sworn in by the court reporter. Sir, 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 I'm sorry, sir. You're on mute if you unmute yourself. On the very the bottom of the,
there we go. Yeah. I apologize. And, yes, I I do affirm. Thank you very much. Perfect. Thank you. Be comfortable, and, I'm gonna let counsel proceed with questioning. Thank you. Please state your name for the record. Cameron Nance, n a n c e. And who is your employer, and what is your business address? I'm employed by the, Arizona Corporation Commission at, 1200 West Washington Street in Phoenix, and it's 85007. And what is your position with the Corporation Commission? I'm a public utilities analyst, fine. And as part of your employment,
were you asked to, review this application? I was. And can you describe what you did as well as, what you reviewed for this case? Sure. Standard review, I I looked to make sure that they had, filled in all the blanks on the application, provided all the information that we need to do our due diligence review. And, then I looked at, the substance of what they had provided, in relation to the services that they were requesting authority to provide. Was it something that they had the technical abilities to provide? And whether they were managerially, you know, managed, in such a way that it would be beneficial to the public interest and,
and the finances as well to make sure that, it was a going concern, that it was viable, you know, they wouldn't, come in and immediately go bankrupt. So, we did a a a standard fairly, thorough review, and, that's what I did. K. And in front of you, do you have, and I don't know where this is because you're remote, but do you have, the documents for staff's exhibit one? I do. And was this prepared by you? Yes. Okay. And do you adopt the, findings in exhibit one s one as your testimony today? Yes. Do you have any substantial changes to this,
or is it does it stand as it is? As is. No changes. Thank you. Your honor, staff moves to have exhibit s one admitted. I can make my assumption, but any objection? No objection, your honor. That was my assumption. S1 is admitted. Thank you. Mr. Nance, based on the company's application, were you able to make any conclusions regarding the company's fitness to provide line private line telecommunications services within the state of Arizona? Yes. They provided the information that we we needed to do our due diligence review. And, my based on that assessment, I I believe that they are
qualified and capable of providing the services requested. And based on your, review of this, is the company in compliance with all regulatory agencies as it pertains to this application? To our knowledge, yeah. I mean, we I looked into that, and I didn't find any violations or anything pending. And this is for a competitive CCNN. Correct? Correct. Yes. Is there any is there an established market for the competitive CCNN? Yes. We have alternative providers in Arizona of the service, competitive local exchange, inter exchange, and, others as well. It's it's a it's a vibrant,
vibrant market, I would say. And do you support the company's request for a competitive designation? Yes. And do you want to can you elaborate on that, why you support it? Sure. We have a competitive market in in Arizona. We don't do, you know, price regulations like we do on the incumbent providers, and especially, because in this case, Ripple is gonna be primarily or just solely focused on commercial entities. There's not gonna be any residential component. It's we've had a competitive market since the deregulation, you know, back in '96, I guess. We implemented something along those lines,
and it's working perfectly. So that that would be one of the reasons. And plus, they you know, my review determined that they're managerially, technically, and and financially, capable of providing the services requested. Does staff report does staff support Ripple's request for a waiver regarding the filing an individual case basis in ICB with the commission staff? Yes. We looked at that. The the typically, the, the the the point is tariffs are on file so that everyone knows what what is is being offered. And an individual case basis is is is gonna be something different than that. And so we're always,
interested to make sure that that, our rules and regulations are being followed and that we have granted, waivers historically. And the caveat being that if we request, a contract to review, they'll provide it to us. And, Ripple has agreed to do so. Thank you. In your professional perspective, is requested application in the public interest in this case? Yes. Do you have anything else you would like to add? No. Your honor, with that, I will make the witness available for cross examination. Perfect. Is there any cross examination? I have no cross, your honor. Perfect. I know we wanna just smooth it all on,
but I do have a question. So I'm I'm I'm gonna ask it. And, maybe this was a question for the the the company's wishes, witness because it might combine, s one with, a one. So do you have a one in front of you, the application as well? Yes, sir. I have to I I do. I'm on a laptop screen, so I might have to to juggle, but I do I can have access. Okay. Perfect. So I just want to make sure maybe it's a piggyback on this ICB, versus, you know, the proposed rates and whatnot. So I see in the staff report, I guess on page four, the end of section five,
staff believes that Ripple's proposed rates are just and reasonable. And so I just wanted to make sure I'm looking at either the right the right section of the tariff in the application or whatnot just that spell spells out exactly what those rates are. And I understand it's ICB as part of that discussion, but I'm looking again, I'm cross exhibiting here on you But I'm looking at section 4.1 of, I guess, the tariff, which talks about rates and charges for 2.5 gs lit fiber,
five gs lit fiber. Is that what I'm looking at when there is no ICB? Am I looking at the right table? Am I am I totally confused, or am I on the right track kind of enlightened me a little bit more than maybe? I think I understand what you're saying. And just to clarify, I think if you're a customer and you're reading the the the services products you just mentioned, you're thinking about purchasing those, and they would be available at at the the filed tariff rate that that's contained in that tariff you were looking at. Now if if the company, agreed, for some reason, some competitive reason,
to give you some different term condition or price, that's what the ICB would be. It's not gonna be wholesale, I mean, just completely different. Usually, it's it's it's it's fractional or or, you know, minor differences, you know, and the company can certainly speak to that more more better than I can. So when when when the line says staff believes that Ripple's proposed rates are just and reasonable, the rates that are being discussed are 4.1, the rates in table 4.1? They're the rates that that are, gonna be in the tariff,
the the filed and effective rates that they that they will publish for everyone to know. And we presume the ICBs unless we have reason to think that they're not and then we'd wanna take a look at it. Perfect. Yeah. I I understand that. Thank you. Alright. At least I'm telling myself I understand at this point, but you've you've made it a little more clear and I appreciate that. That's the only other, that's really the only question I had. I'm gonna give counsel another opportunity since I muddied the waters if they wanna revisit with any questions, staff. Do you have any questions? No redirect, your honor. Perfect. And,
mister Patton, anything by you? Nothing further, your honor. Alright. Well, then, you now mister Vance are excused as a witness. Thank you very much. And, again, I'll turn it over to you, mister Reynauer. Any further witnesses? No further witnesses, your honor. Okay. Well, that's that's how a hearing goes. Any, I guess, closing arguments would be another opportunity, for counsel to make, and I'll turn to you, sir. Yes, Shrader. First, we'd like to thank you for accelerating the hearing. We've got some business opportunities that are time sensitive. And if there's anything you could do to get this ready for the February open
meeting, we'd appreciate it. We are going to order an expedited transcript. Court reporter heads up, which should be pretty short. So, again, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Very good. Anything from staff? Just like to thank the company for all the cooperation with this and, respectfully request that you adopt the staff report and approve this. Thank you, ma'am. Well, thank you, everybody. Witnesses counsel, again, my my life is more in the securities world, so being this cooperative, it it it is is is so lovely to to be on this end of of a hearing like that. So,
again, the plan, is to have this on the February, agenda. So I will I will get to work and get that, rue, issued for the the commissioners to to consider. And then that will be, considered at the open meeting, as you all know. I'm kinda just mumbling because this went so fast, but I think unless there's anything else, I'm gonna turn to to both sides. Is there anything else that I'm missing before we adjourn? If I could ask the court reporter whether I need to follow-up with an email to Glenny court reporting about expediting, that would be helpful to know. Okay. Let's do that off the record, if you don't mind, and we'll so we can just kinda get my part little bow tied up,
and then you can, stay on the line and do what you need to do. So anything on the record before I'm saying the magic words? Nothing here, your honor. Alright. Well, then the magic words, we are adjourned. Thank you, everyone. And I'll keep Alright. So go ahead, guys.