FCC Seeks Comment on Birch Purchase of Sage Telecom Assets
The FCC Wireline Bureau sought comment on Birch Communications' proposed buy of Sage Telecom Communications assets in a public notice posted Friday in docket 15-139. Both companies are CLECs, with Birch offering or certified to offer telecom or data services…
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to residential and business customers in all 50 states and D.C., and Sage offering telecom or data services to residential and business customers in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin, the PN said. Birch would obtain certain Sage "customer accounts and receivables, certain customer agreements and contracts, certain vendor agreements and contracts, certain equipment and certain intellectual property," said the PN. Initial comments are due July 6, replies July 13. In their application, Birch and Sage said the transaction is entitled to presumptive streamlined treatment because it would leave Birch with less than 10 percent of the interstate long-distance market, Birch would provide competitive telecom services only in areas served by a dominant ILEC, and neither applicant is regulated as dominant in any service. The applicants said the transaction is also in the public interest because it will allow Birch to expand its business and achieve economies of scale, strengthening its ability to expand its offerings to a broader customer base, while Sage's affected customers will have access to the same service quality and expanded offerings.