SkyWi dial tones
returning

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Some customers of independent Internet provider SkyWi Inc. have begun getting their connections back after state regulators stepped into a billing dispute that cut service to thousands of New Mexicans.

The rest may be back online by Saturday.

Qwest Communications pulled the plug on those connections Tuesday saying SkyWi was behind in its payments to the phone giant by $1.7 million. Qwest said it notified SkyWi service would be cut, but SkyWi customers say no one told them.

SkyWi buys its Internet connections from Qwest at wholesale prices and then offers retail Internet and online-phone services to its customers and those of recently acquired local providers OneConnect and ZiaNet.

Payment or not the state Public Regulation Commission, during an emergency meeting late Wednesday, ordered Qwest to reconnect all of SkyWi's customers.

The PRC found money issues between the two companies caused a telecommunications crisis so the agency had no choice but to step in. The PRC also left no room for negotiation.

"We don't ask Qwest to do stuff," PRC Chairman Jason Marks told KRQE News 13. "We tell them what to do."

The direct order: restore phone and Internet service to tens of thousands of New Mexico customers within 36 hours from Tuesday. The PRC also said it might investigate why SkyWi didn't warn its customers of the coming interruption.

"They both should have known that this problem was bigger than the two of them," Marks said. "It was bigger than the money and that it was going to have bad consequences around the state of New Mexico."

By Friday only half of that order was filled. Qwest said the work couldn't be done in a day and half.

And while Qwest is complying with the PRC's demands, it's not happy.

"Qwest (is) telling us that they continue to object to the commission imposing this upon them and that they are the victim in this," Marks continued. "Truly the innocent victims are the public, most particularly the folks who rely on police and fire being there when you pick up the phone."

It was on Tuesday morning when 5,400 SkyWi phone customers picked up their phones expecting a dial tone and instead heard dead silence. Also cut off were 13,000 Internet users.

Late Wednesday in an emergency meeting the PRC ordered SkyWi and Qwest to work together to restore service.

While customers, especially businesses, may never get reimbursed for inconvenience, it may be even harder to get an apology.

"I think we owe them an apology to the extent that we--how can I put it?--that we've been doing business with Qwest," SkyWi President Jack Leach told News 13.

Now it seems the companies have something else to fight over.

Qwest said one reason it's taking so long to restore service is SkyWi put together a customer list containing duplicate numbers. And Leach accused Qwest of using that list to its advantage in trying to get SkyWi customers to switch service.

Qwest said it expects all phone service to be restored by Saturday. The PRC has extended the 36-hour deadline to the beginning of next week.

Qwest and SkyWi already have a court date set later this month in a lawsuit SkyWi filed in December. That suit accuses Qwest of using anticompetitive tactics in an attempt to put the smaller company out of business.