FCC Chairman Opposes Skype’s Request For Open Networks

Skype’s petition with the Federal Communications Commission is doomed to fail after FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said wireless operators should not be forced to comply to what he called a premature request and he will recommend the petition to be dismissed. The bad news for Skype came on Tuesday in Las Vegas during the annual CTIA Wireless Conference.

“In light of the industry’s embrace of this more open approach, it would be premature to adopt any other requirement across the industry,” Martin said in his prepared speech. “Thus, today I will circulate to my fellow commissioners an order dismissing a petition for declaratory ruling filed by Skype that would apply Carterfone requirements to existing wireless networks.”

Back in 1968, the Federal Communications Commission issued a ruling that any device could be connected to the AT&T network as long as it didn’t damage it (and that was the case of the Carterfone device). Skype said the demand for the Carterfone decision to be taken in this case as well would be a positive concept that could benefit consumers by lowering prices.

Skype said in their petition that carriers are controlling and limiting subscribers’ right to run software communication applications as they choose and attempt to take control over the way consumer access the mobile Internet and exclude rivals. “Carriers are doing so, moreover, in violation of the Commission’s Carterfone principle … The Commission should act now to enforce Carterfone and unlock the full benefits of wireless price competition and innovation.”

Despite the openness principle that everyone seems to be adopting now, Martin dismissed Skype’s proposal, adding that Skype's proposal is bad for investment innitiatives and that "careful balancing of spurring innovation and consumer choice while encouraging infrastructure investment is critical to the wireless industry’s continued impressive growth,” Reuters reports.