The Public Regulation Commission of the state of New Mexico has ordered US telecoms services provider Qwest Communications to restore all previously disconnected services to internet service provider SkyWi and its subsidiaries One Connect IP and Zianet.
Qwest had started to shut down the SkyWi network, claiming the internet service provider owed it $1.7m for services. The shutdown affected residential, business and government customers in New Mexico, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and Texas.
SkyWi recently filed a lawsuit against Qwest claiming that Qwest engaged in predatory, anti-competitive, and unfair trade practices, and the PRC has ordered Qwest not to take any action against SkyWi until a decision is made in federal court on SkyWi’s request for a preliminary injunction.
Jack Leach, president of SkyWi, said: There is still a great deal of damage rendered to our customers’ businesses by their actions, however, and we must now work very hard for our customers in order to rebuild their trust in our services and our company. We made a reasonable and fair offer to Qwest to avoid interruption of services until these hearings took place. But that offer was refused by Qwest. They left us no alternative but to seek help in order to protect our customers from further damage to their businesses. Even so, the repercussions of an interruption on this scale will be felt for quite some time.
