PRC: Qwest, SkyWi
forget customers

SANTA FE (KRQE) - Two major communications companies are putting their customers second, state regulators agreed Thursday.

When the Public Regulation Commission met Thursday morning, commissioners ordered Internet service provider SkyWi Inc. to notify customers of any disconnects within 10 business days.

The order came after SkyWi refused to sign an agreement that would have protected its customers. However SkyWi's attorney told the PRC it has no authority to tell the company to do anything.

Instead SkyWi will only answer to a federal court where it has a lawsuit pending against Qwest Communications alleging anti-competitive business practices. The phone giant pulled the plug on SkyWi's connections on Dec. 29 in a billing dispute.

SkyWi customers said they were given no notice of the outage, and the PRC, during an emergency meeting on New Year's Eve, ordered Qwest to restore the connections.

"We want to assist in any way possible way we can with our customers, and this commission is acting on behalf of our customers," SkyWi attorney Andrew Sanchez said during Thursday's meeting.

"You sure did like it when we helped you get turned on again," PRC Chairman Sandy Jones replied.

Commissioners said they are perturbed by SkyWi's refusal to sign the agreement.

Qwest claims SkyWi owes $1.7 million in unpaid bills, a figure SkyWi disputes. Qwest cited the lack of payments for cutting off SkyWi's connections, which resulted in almost 20,000 customers losing Internet access and Internet-based phone service.

The PRC said it not protecting either company but is looking out for the customers who've been forgotten.

"I think it's a matters of interpretation and very poorly," Commissioner David King said. "We've said several times it seems like legal and strategic interests from the companies forgot about the primary interest of the customers."

Qwest said all of SkyWi's New Mexico service has been restored. However the outage continues to affect SkyWi customers all the way to Idaho.

A federal judge will decide this Tuesday on SkyWi's request for a restraining order that would prevent Qwest from disconnecting services again until the lawsuit is settled.