AT&T has asked the Federal Communications Commission to launch an investigation into Google Voice. AT&T suggested that Google’s free service may violate federal communications laws.
AT&T pointed to news reports about Google Voice that indicate the service restricts users from making calls to areas where wireless carriers charge high access fees. Other telephone service providers are restricted from this practice under federal law. AT&T seemingly wants Google to play by the same rules.
“By blocking these calls, Google is able to reduce its access expense,” AT&T said in a letter sent to the FCC on Friday. The telecom giant is also arguing that Google Voice violates the FCC’s Net-neutrality guidelines because it hinders competition in the network and service providers market. AT&T said Google is breaking the rules by “openly flaunting the call-blocking prohibition that applies to its competitors.”
Google Speaks Out
Richard Whitt, Google’s telecom and media counsel, was quick to respond to AT&T’s complaint. He first offered background on the situation.
Whitt said certain local carriers in rural areas charge AT&T and other long-distance companies especially high rates to connect calls to their networks. Sometimes these local carriers partner and share revenue with adult chat services, conference calling centers, party lines, and others that are able to attract lots of incoming phone calls to their networks, Whitt explained.
“Under the common-carrier laws, AT&T and other traditional phone companies are required to connect these calls. In the past they’ve argued that these rural carriers are abusing the system to ‘establish grossly excessive access charges under false pretenses,’ and to ‘offer kickbacks to operators of pornographic chat lines and other calling services’,” Whitt said. “We agree with AT&T that the current carrier compensation system is badly flawed, and that the single best answer is for the FCC to take the necessary steps to fix…