To ambitious executives of a telecommunications company seeking to connect the corporate suites of Los Angeles and Phoenix with those of Dallas and Houston, New Mexico is a state of inconvenience: 400-odd miles populated by only a couple of million people — half of them in a lump, the other half scattered between Colorado and Chihuahua.

And since Qwest Communications International is still stuck in the 19th century when it comes to dependence on lines to provide 21st-century high-speed Internet from screens hither to those yon, its bosses do their best to humor along the governmental regulators in the Land of Enchantment. To the extent that they can squeeze our people with higher rates, all the better ...

So at the beginning of this decade, the company, newly churned from US West, offered New Mexico a deal: Grant us a fat rate increase, Qwest told the Public Regulation Commission, and we'll make your state a player in the Internet game: We'll invest nearly $800 million in fiber-optic and other technology in just five years; you won't regret this decision ...

Five years passed. Five hundred million was, indeed, spent. But the rest? Well, times are tough, and instead of all the customers we hoped to gain from our presence, we've lost lots of our captive land-line audience; let us out of our commitment, and we'll make another one with softer deadlines.

Nuts to that, said the commission, which took its case against Qwest to the state Supreme Court — where the PRC won. Then came intervention by Gov. Bill Richardson and Attorney General Patricia Madrid, who helped negotiate an agreement three years ago to let Qwest off the hook, más o menos. It made sense, since individual customer rebates would have been piddling, while any infrastructure investment in New Mexico might someday be worthwhile.

But darned if Qwest hasn't gone before the commission again — seeking another 22 percent rate increase.

But also making an appearance before the five-member PRC is Madrid's successor, Gary King. Hold that line, says King; don't forget the last time you bent to the corporation's will ...

As proposed, says King, Qwest's new rates will hit the working poor hardest — so re-jigger the rate structure.

And, he notes, if the commission doesn't demand additional investments in high-speed Internet, we're gonna remain rubes when it comes to economic-development competition.

Surely fiber-optic lines will give way to satellites or other wireless technology, won't they? And when they do, will Qwest wave bye-bye to New Mexico, or maybe take what profit it can from the Albuquerque area? 'Course that'll be the dawning of a whole new age, when maybe even the mountainous norte will become a full-fledged member of the telecommunications era. May it arrive soon ...

For now, though, the commissioners should listen closely to King — and demand fair phone rates as well as responsible corporate citizenship from Qwest.