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FCC Chairman Opposes Skype Open Wireless Petition

Wednesday, April 2, 2008
By bMighty.com Staff

Speaking at the CTIA wireless industry convention, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin announced his opposition to last year's petition from Skype to open wireless carrier networks to outside devices.

Skype, whose software enables Internet-based phone service, had asked the FCC to apply 1968's "Carterfone" ruling to wireless networks. That ruling forced AT&T to open its wired network to phones made by other manufacturers. Martin said that recent moves toward openness on the part of wireless carriers -- such as Verizon's announcement that it would open its network and the growth of Google's Open Handset Alliance -- convinced him that a regulatory approach was unnecessary.

"In light of the industry's embrace of this more open approach, I think it's premature for the commission to place any other requirements on these networks," Martin told the appreciative audience.

A spokesman for Skype expressed disappointment: "While we are cautiously optimistic that the carriers will deliver greater openness, unfortunately, if the FCC acts on the chairman's recommendation, it will have given up the tools to protect consumers if they do not," said Christopher Libertelli, the company's director of government affairs.

Source(s): Associated Press via Wired, SFGate.com




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