Qwest Must Resume Service to ISP, State Regulators Say
SkyWi still was waiting Friday for Qwest to comply fully with an order by the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission giving Qwest until 8 a.m. New Year’s Day to stop disconnecting network services to the VoIP provider and restore those it had shut down, SkyWi President Jack Leach told us. The PRC acted Wednesday in emergency session. “We have a large O-12 circuit in Idaho Falls, Idaho, that they haven’t turned up, and that really is key to getting our voice network back up,” he said.
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As of midday Friday “critical” SkyWi customers - sheriff’s departments, hospitals, schools, libraries and government offices -- still had no voice service, Leach said. “We got an update from [Qwest] saying that they're nearly back up. But turning up the network is only half the story,” Leach said. “The other half is the interface codes for customers’ phone lines.” For customers to have voice service, the multi-digit codes must be reconstituted, he said. “As of now 90 percent of our voice customers have no service. There’s a fine line here,” Leach said. “Because the PRC issued the order, we're submitting our claims and issues to the PRC. We don’t want Qwest saying we're calling them and interfering.”
Voice service to home and business customers also is affected, SkyWi said. The shutdown came against a backdrop of claims and counterclaims about debt and corrupt business practices. SkyWi owes $1.7 million dating to September, said Qwest, which early Tuesday began stopping service to it and subsidiaries ZiaNet and One Connect IP. In November, Qwest warned of a shutdown unless SkyWi made “a show of good faith,” Qwest spokesman Mark Molzen told us. The carrier offered to delay punitive action if by Friday the ISP paid a third of what it owes, but SkyWi didn’t respond, he said. “They have collected the money, but failed to live up to their end of the bill,” he said. “We're cooperating with the PRC, whose order emphasized public safety. We're sorting through a list provided by One Connect, and we're working according to their priorities.” No progress has occurred financially, he said. SkyWi, which also operates in Arizona, Idaho, Texas, Utah and Colorado, has more than 28,000 customers - 70 percent of its subscribers -- in New Mexico, making it that state’s largest independent ISP, SkyWi said.
In a suit filed Dec. 5 in Albuquerque U.S. District Court, SkyWi accused Qwest of using monopoly power to drive it out of business. SkyWi sought a preliminary injunction that would bar the carrier from acting against it. A Jan. 13 court hearing is set for the injunction request. On Jan. 5 the court will hear SkyWi’s request to disqualify Qwest’s legal representation in the antitrust suit on grounds that the law firm once represented One Connect, which SkyWi acquired in September along with ZiaNet. - Michael Dolan