Add to del.icio.us     Digg this

Sep. 29, 2009

On Sep. 25, AT&T filed a complaint letter with the FCC that alleges Google Voice is blocking outbound calls to certain rural areas and with some outrageous access charges.

Incumbent wireless carriers like AT&T are banned from blocking such calls, putting Google Voice at a clear and unfair advantage, says AT&T.

"By openly flaunting the call blocking prohibition that applies to its competitors, Google is in fact acting in a manner inconsistent with the spirit of the FCC's fourth principle contained in its Internet Policy Statement."

For its part, Google even agreed that the "current carrier compensation system is badly flawed," but still argues that its Google Voice isn't subject to common wireless carrier laws because it is a nontraditional, free and Internet-based services application.

Google also claims that non-discrimination ensures that a provider "cannot block fair access" to another provider.

But that is exactly what Google is doing when it blocks calls that Google Voice customers make to telephone numbers associated with certain local exchange carriers, said Robert Quinn, AT&T's senior vice president of federal regulatory affairs in the letter to the FCC.

Nevertheless, Google still admitted that its Google Voice service does restrict certain outbound calls to high-priced destinations, but it was also quick to point out that it must do so to keep costs down.

The invitation-only application is currently available for free and cannot entirely replace landline or wireless service.

Although AT&T stopped just short of calling Google a big hypocrite, the wireless carrier had some very harsh words for what it sees as a contradiction between Google's practice of blocking calls and its support for net neutrality.

Google instantly fired back with some powerful words of its own, saying that AT&T's attack on Google's support for an open Internet was little more than a red herring.

Google's Washington Telecom and Media Counsel Richard Whitt said AT&T's comparison between call blocking and net neutrality "simply doesn't fly and is even irrelevant."

"Google casually dismisses the FCC, claiming that Google Voice ‘isn't a traditional phone service and shouldn't be regulated like other common mobile service carriers,'" Quinn said. "But in reality, Google Voice appears to be nothing more than a creatively packaged assortment of services that are already quite familiar to the Commission."

From that example, Quinn also argues that Internet regulation that focuses narrowly on network providers but not application, service and content providers is grossly fallacious.

"The FCC cannot, through inaction or otherwise, give Google a special privilege to play by its own rules while the rest of the wireless industry, including those who compete with Google, must instead adhere to Commission regulations," Quinn added.

"The FCC's open Internet principles apply only to the behavior of broadband wireless carriers, not to the creators of Internet-based software applications," Whitt said. "Even though the FCC does not have jurisdiction over how software applications function, AT&T apparently wants to use the regulatory process to undermine Web-based competition and innovation."

Google and AT&T have been fighting a lot lately because of the Google Voice app, which duplicates the core dialer functionality of handsets, including the iPhone, for free.

This enables free and low-cost international calls, which could ultimately cut into AT&T's bottom line.

AT&T has denied any involvement in Apple's rejection of the Google Voice app for the iPhone.

Add to del.icio.us     Digg this

    This article was featured on Business 5.0 and on Tech Blog.

Source: AT&T.