Policy Fugue by Kenneth Corbin (bio )

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FCC responds to complaints over Google Voice

By Kenneth Corbin on October 9, 2009 4:05 PM

That didn't take long.

The Federal Communications Commission has responded to criticism over Google's voice application, requesting information from the search giant about how the product works and, most importantly, details about why it doesn't connect calls in some rural areas.

The inquiry comes after receiving a critical letter from a bipartisan group of 20 lawmakers who complained that their largely rural constituencies should be able to access the service under FCC rules.

The situation gets complicated because Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) rightly points out that Google Voice is in a different regulatory category than AT&T's (NYSE: T) phone service, which is subject to common carrier laws that require it to connect all calls, even if they originate from or route to a local carrier that charges steep connection fees.

AT&T sent its own missive to the FCC arguing that Google, "one of the most noisome trumpeters of so-called 'Net neutrality' regulation," was a big fat hypocrite for shielding itself behind the technical distinction that its voice service is a software application, which puts it in a different regulatory category than the telephone network.

Google counters that it is all in favor of reforming the intercarrier compensation regime, but that the differences between Google Voice and AT&T are more than superficial.

In its inquiry, the chief of the FCC's wireline bureau, Sharon Gillett, asked Google to provide a legal analysis of how its voice application fits into the statutory categories laid out in the Communications Act, and to explain what existing services it competes with.

Gillett asked Google to submit its responses by Oct. 28.

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