US regulators asked Google to explain how the company's voice service blocks expensive calls to some rural areas, after lawmakers demanded an investigation, Reuters reports. The FCC asked Google to respond by 28 October with information about how Google Voice calls are routed, why it restricts calls to particular telephone numbers and how Google chooses the numbers. The concerns are similar to those expressed to the agency by AT&T, which said in a 25 September letter that Google Voice breaks FCC rules that forbid operators to block calls. Google must also identify how many users of its voice service now exist and whether the company plans to offer voice on other than an "invitation-only" basis, according to the letter sent by Sharon Gillett, chief of the FCC's wireline competition bureau. Google has said that its voice service is not a traditional phone call because it originates from a web software tool, and has argued that it should not be regulated like telephone companies. Google's Voice service has also triggered a dispute between the online search company and Apple over why the voice application is not available on the iPhone.
