FCC Begins Inquiry Into Google Voice

The Federal Communications Commission said it is investigating whether Google has violated telecommunications laws with its call management and calling service that has been blocking the connection of some calls to rural areas, according to the agency's Wireline bureau.

In a letter sent to Google Friday afternoon, the FCC's Wireline bureau asks the Web search engine company to explain how its application, Google Voice, works and whether it is blocking calls. The inquiry follows complaints by AT&T and lawmakers, asking the FCC to take up a review of the service that they argue could be a traditional telephone service and should be regulated like one.

In its letter (pdf), the FCC asked Google to answer several questions about its service by Oct. 28. Its questions ranged from how the service works, how Google sees its service fits under regulatory frameworks at the FCC, its invitation-only policy to get the service, and how Google chooses the numbers to which it restricts calls.

Google's telecom and media counsel Rick Whitt has said the service is not a traditional phone service -- or common carrier service. He wrote in a blog after AT&T sent its letter late last month that the service does deny some connections to rural areas because of the high costs of making those connections.

But he said Google Voice is different from a traditional phone service because it is free and a Web-based software application.

"Google Voice is not intended to be a replacement for traditional phone service -- in fact, you need an existing land or wireless line in order to use it. Importantly, users are still able to make outbound calls on any other phone device," he said in the blog.

I wrote previously about how legal experts and analysts say questions about Google Voice point to the blurring lines betweeen traditional communications services and Internet services as more applications move to digital technologies.