The iPhone & the Lack of Voice Over 3G: Alternative Theory
Apple and AT&T have come under continued criticism for not allowing VoIP over today's 3G mobile broadband connections when using the iPhone. So much so that the matter got the attention of the FCC back in August, leading to explanations from Apple and Ma Bell.
Context & Ripple Effects
The VoIP-over-3G fight has been running since the FCC questioned Apple, AT&T and Google in August 2009, when the commission demanded written explanations for why Google Voice was rejected and why VoIP calls stay off the cellular data network. TechCrunch framed that same inquiry as the regulator wanting to 'smash open the iPhone,' putting Apple's App Store gatekeeping squarely in Washington's crosshairs.
First-order effects
- Apple and AT&T remain under active FCC scrutiny five months after the August 2009 inquiry, with this piece adding a new explanatory theory to a question the two companies have already had to answer once in writing.
- Developers of calling applications are still confined to Wi-Fi-only VoIP on the iPhone, as GigaOM's November follow-up confirmed no change to the restriction.
Second-order effects
- AT&T's capacity defense is contested ground: the company was sued back in September 2008 over alleged 3G saturation caused by iPhone volumes, and a later debate split blame between the device and the network — whoever wins that argument shapes whether the block is read as engineering necessity or contractual control.
- If the FCC concludes the block protects AT&T's voice revenue rather than network health, other carriers' exclusive handset deals become the next obvious target for similar questioning.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points toward regulators treating app-store and carrier restrictions on data-network voice services as an open-access issue, with the iPhone as the test case for how much control a platform owner can exercise over what runs on its hardware.
- Carriers' traditional voice-minute business faces structural erosion if voice migrates onto broadband data plans, making carrier-platform alignment on blocking rules a recurring regulatory flashpoint.
The trend: Mobile regulators are increasingly willing to challenge the carrier-and-platform alliance that decides which services may run over smartphone data networks.