Qwest-SkiWi billing dispute disrupts VoIP and other services in multiple states

Doug Mohney — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 12:42:43 -0500

Last month, SkyWi filed suit against Qwest and refused to pay $1.7 million toward its disputed bills with Qwest. Qwest returned the favor by shutting down all of its lines to SkyWi last week. Customers across multiple states were impacted, including at least one local government, forcing the New Mexico PRC to step in and order Qwest to restore services.

Qwest shut down SkyWi's circuits on Dec. 30, leaving businesses, homes, and the Eddy County government without internet and phone services, though 911 services were not impacted. The following day, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission ordered Qwest to restore service. Service was interrupted to about 13,000 customers, with 70 percent of them located in New Mexico. Around 5,400 phone customers were left without dial tone.

By late Friday, Jan. 2, service was turned up to roughly half the customers, with the New Mexico PRC ordering all services to New Mexico customers to be up within 36 hours. The PRC may also look into why SkyWi didn't warn its customers about a potential service interruption.

Matters haven't been helped by bad blood between Qwest and SkyWi. Qwest said delays in restoring service happened because SkyWi provided a customer list containing duplicate phone numbers. SkyWi says Qwest will use the list to get frustrated customers to switch services.

Both companies will be back in court this month to fight out SkyWi's lawsuit accusing Qwest of using anti-competitive tactics to put the smaller company out of business.

For more:
- VoIP-News tallies up the Qwest-SkiWi casualties. Post.
- Denver Biz Journal . Article.
- Albuquerque KRQE reports. Article.

BREAKING NEWS: Damages vacated on Verizon v. Vonage appeal

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 12:38:04 -0400

A federal appeals court has vacated the $58 million in damages awarded to Verizon by a lower court that found Vonage guilty of patent infringement.

Three specific patents were at issue in the Verizon case. The three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit determined the lower court was right to find infringement on two, but it said the third had been improperly explained to the jury. The court thus vacated the damage award and the ruling on the third patent, and instructed the lower court to revisit the first two.

“We vacate in its entirety the award of $58,000,000 in damages and the 5.5 percent royalty and remand to the district court for further proceedings. We affirm the injunction as to the ’574 and ’711 patents. We vacate the injunction insofar as it pertains to the ’880 patent,” the appeals court ruled.

The initial $58 million award was handed down by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Verizon’s favor last March. A federal jury in Kansas City on Tuesday found Vonage in willful violalation of patenst owned by Sprint Nextel, which was awarded $69.5 million in damages.

For more:

- The Verizon appeal decision is here

- The Kansas City Star has the Sprint Nextel verdict here