PUBLIC NOTICE Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20554 News Media Information 202 / 418-0500 Fax-On-Demand 202 / 418-2830 TTY 202 / 418-2555 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov ftp.fcc.gov DA 07-3535 Released: August 7, 2007 DOMESTIC SECTION 214 APPLICATION FILED FOR THE TRANSFER OF CONTROL OF GVN SERVICES D/B/A GLOBAL VALLEY LONG DISTANCE AND GLOBAL VALLEY NETWORKS, INC. FROM COUNTRY ROAD COMMUNICATIONS, LLC TO CITIZENS COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY NON-STREAMLINED PLEADING CYCLE ESTABLISHED WC Docket No. 07-161 Comments Due: August 21, 2007 Reply Comments Due: August 28, 2007 On July 23, 2007, Citizens Communications Company (“Citizens”) and Country Road Communications, LLC (“Country Road”) (collectively, the “Applicants”), filed an application pursuant to section 63.03 of the Commission’s rules requesting authority to transfer control of Evans Telephone Holdings, Inc. (Evans), and thereby GVN Services d/b/a Global Valley Long Distance (“GVS”) and Global Valley Networks, Inc. (“GVN”) (collectively, “Global Valley”) from Country Road to Citizens.1 Applicants request streamlined treatment on a case-by-case basis and state that a grant of the application will serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity. Because the Applicants have adjacent incumbent LEC exchange service areas, the application does not qualify for streamlined treatment.2 Country Road is a Delaware telecommunications company with operations focused in rural areas in Maine, Massachusetts, West Virginia, and California. Evans, a Delaware corporation, is a holding company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Country Road, which in turn wholly-owns GVN and GVS, both of which are California corporations. GVN is an incumbent LEC providing local exchange service to customers in and about Patterson, California in Stanislaus County, California, Livingston in Merced 1 47 C.F.R § 63.03; see 47 U.S.C. § 214. Applicants are also filing an application for the transfer of control associated with authorization for international services. Any action on this domestic section 214 application is without prejudice to Commission action on other related, pending applications. Applicants filed a supplement to their application on August 3, 2007. 2 47 C.F.R. §§ 63.03(b)(2)(iii). 2 County, California, San Antonio in Santa Clara County, California, and Guinda in Yolo County California. GVS is an interexchange carrier in Central Valley of California. Citizens, a publicly-traded Delaware corporation, is a holding company for various operating companies serving approximately 2.5 million access lines under the name “Frontier”. Citizens operates as an incumbent LEC in 24 states3 and is authorized to provide services in 49 states through its long distance and competitive local subsidiary, Frontier Communications of America, Inc.4 Citizens’ subsidiary, Citizens Telecommunications Company of Golden State, an incumbent LEC, operates the Arbuckle and Williams exchanges in California, which are adjacent to the GVN Guinda exchange. No individual or entity holds a ten percent or greater interest in Citizens. On July 3, 2007, Applicants entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement stipulating that Citizens will purchase from Country Road all of the outstanding common stock of Evans, and thereby control of Global Valley. Upon consummation of the proposed transaction, Country Road will hold no ownership interest in either Evans or Global Valley. Applicants contend that the proposed transaction is in the public interest. Applicants maintain that the proposed transaction will strengthen the Applicants’ ability to expand their offerings and provide more advanced services to a broader customer base. According to the Applicants, the proposed transaction will allow both Citizens and Global Valley to sharpen their focus on the areas where they are best able to provide their customers with innovative and value added services, allowing the combined entity to compete more effectively with other facilities-based competitors. Finally, Applicants state that, after consummation of the transaction, Global Valley customers will continue to receive services at the same prices, terms and conditions. GENERAL INFORMATION The transfer of control identified herein has been found, upon initial review, to be acceptable for filing as a non-streamlined application. The Commission reserves the right to return any transfer of control application if, upon further examination, it is determined to be defective and not in conformance with the Commission’s rules and policies. Pursuant to section 63.03(a) of the Commission’s rules, 47 CFR § 63.03(a), interested parties may file comments on or before August 21, 2007 and reply comments on or before August 28, 2007. Comments may be filed using: (1) the Commission’s Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS), (2) the Federal Government’s eRulemaking Portal, or (3) by filing paper copies. See Electronic Filing of Documents in Rulemaking Proceedings, 63 FR 24121 (1998). § Electronic Filers: Comments may be filed electronically using the Internet by accessing the ECFS: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/ or the Federal eRulemaking Portal: 3 Citizens’ incumbent LEC affiliates operate in 24 states (Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin). 4 Frontier Communications of America, Inc. is authorized to provide service as a competitive LEC in California and has obtained numbering resources from NANPA and provides switching feature functionality to enable customers to route and transfer calls between their CMRS service and Citizen’s Telecommunications Company of California, Inc. incumbent LEC service territory in the ELK Grove, California area. 3 http://www.regulations.gov. Filers should follow the instructions provided on the website for submitting comments. § For ECFS filers, if multiple docket or rulemaking numbers appear in the caption of this proceeding, filers must transmit one electronic copy of the comments for each docket or rulemaking number referenced in the caption. In completing the transmittal screen, filers should include their full name, U.S. Postal Service mailing address, and the applicable docket or rulemaking number. Parties may also submit an electronic comment by Internet e-mail. To get filing instructions, filers should send an e-mail to ecfs@fcc.gov, and include the following words in the body of the message, “get form.” A sample form and directions will be sent in response. § Paper Filers: Parties who choose to file by paper must file an original and four copies of each filing. If more than one docket or rulemaking number appears in the caption of this proceeding, filers must submit two additional copies for each additional docket or rulemaking number. Filings can be sent by hand or messenger delivery, by commercial overnight courier, or by first- class or overnight U.S. Postal Service mail (although we continue to experience delays in receiving U.S. Postal Service mail). All filings must be addressed to the Commission’s Secretary, Office of the Secretary, Federal Communications Commission. The Commission’s contractor will receive hand-delivered or messenger-delivered paper filings for the Commission’s Secretary at 236 Massachusetts Avenue, N.E., Suite 110, Washington, D.C. 20002. The filing hours at this location are 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. All hand deliveries must be held together with rubber bands or fasteners. Any envelopes must be disposed of before entering the building. Commercial overnight mail (other than U.S. Postal Service Express Mail and Priority Mail) must be sent to 9300 East Hampton Drive, Capitol Heights, MD 20743. U.S. Postal Service first-class, Express, and Priority mail should be addressed to 445 12th Street, S.W., Washington D.C. 20554. People with Disabilities: To request materials in accessible formats for people with disabilities (braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), send an e-mail to fcc504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0530 (voice), 202-418-0432 (tty). You may submit comments, identified by the above noted docket number, by any of the following methods: § Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments. § Federal Communications Commission’s Web Site: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/. Follow the instructions for submitting comments. § People with Disabilities: Contact the FCC to request reasonable accommodations (accessible format documents, sign language interpreters, CART, etc.) by e-mail: FCC504@fcc.gov or phone: 202-418-0530 or TTY: 202-418-0432. In addition, one copy of each pleading must be sent to each of the following: 1) The Commission’s duplicating contractor, Best Copy and Printing, Inc., 445 12th Street, S.W., Room CY-B402, Washington, D.C. 20554, www.bcpiweb.com; phone: (202) 488-5300 fax: (202) 488-5563; 4 2) Tracey Wilson-Parker, Competition Policy Division, Wireline Competition Bureau, 445 12th Street, S.W., Room 5-A103, Washington, D.C. 20554; email: www.tracey wilson- Parker@fcc.gov; 3) Dennis Johnson, Competition Policy Division, Wireline Competition Bureau, 445 12th Street, S.W., Room 5-B155, Washington, D.C. 20554; e-mail: www.dennis.johnson@fcc.gov; 4) Susan O’Connell, Policy Division, International Bureau, 445 12th Street, S.W., Room 7-B544, Washington, D.C. 20554; email: susan.o’connell@fcc.gov; and 5) Jim Bird, Office of General Counsel, 445 12th Street, S.W., Room 8-C824, Washington, D.C. 20554; e-mail: jim.bird@fcc.gov. Filings and comments are also available for public inspection and copying during regular business hours at the FCC Reference Information Center, Portals II, 445 12th Street, S.W., Room CY- A257, Washington, D.C. 20554. They may also be purchased from the Commission’s duplicating contractor, Best Copy and Printing, Inc., Portals II, 445 12th Street, S.W., Room CY-B402, Washington, D.C. 20554, telephone: (202) 488-5300, fax: (202) 488-5563, or via e-mail www.bcpiweb.com. People with Disabilities: To request materials in accessible formats for people with disabilities (braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), send an e-mail to fcc504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0530 (voice), 202-418-0432 (tty). For further information, please contact Tracey Wilson-Parker at (202) 418-1394, or Dennis Johnson at (202) 418-0809. - FCC -