The nonprofit media-policy watchdog said recent statements from AT&T strongly suggest the wireless carrier, in cooperation with Apple, is blocking the use of Skype's VoIP application on the iPhone. Free Press also said applications which would allow the tethering of the Android-based T-Mobile G1 phone are not available to T-Mobile customers on Google's Android Marketplace.

"The Internet in your pocket should be just as free and open as the Internet in your home," said Free Press Policy Counsel Chris Riley. "The FCC must make it crystal-clear that a closed Internet will not be tolerated on any platform."

A Critical Clarification

When it comes to forcing broadband operators to open their networks, the Free Press is no novice. Together with Public Knowledge, the media-policy watchdog filed a successful complaint with the FCC against broadband service provider Comcast last year.

Former FCC Chairman Keven Martin subsequently compared Comcast's suppression of BitTorrent P2P traffic to post office employees opening an individual's mail, deciding they didn't want to bother delivering it, and hiding that fact by sending it back stamped "Address unknown -- return to sender."

"Unfortunately, that is exactly what Comcast was doing with their subscribers' Internet traffic," Martin said last August. "Subscribers should be able to go where they want, when they want, and generally use the Internet in any legal means."

Now the Free Press is asking acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps -- who sided with Martin in last year's Comcast decision -- to inform AT&T and other U.S. wireless operators that they cannot adopt discriminating terms of service prohibiting the use of certain applications.

"As more and more consumers begin to access the Internet wirelessly, it is critical that the FCC clarifies that online consumer protections that prohibit blocking are the same regardless of how we access the Web," said Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott.

Skype For BlackBerry

Though a mobile version of Skype is currently only available for Apple's iPhone, that is about to change. Skype recently announced that its VoIP application will be coming to the BlackBerry Curve and the BlackBerry Bold in May, and it will be supported on other BlackBerry models in the future.

"Our efforts, in particular with North American and European policy-makers recently, seek to empower consumers to choose the mobile-phone features and Web applications that they want; remove any operator-imposed barriers that restrict choice; and encourage mobile networks to open up to software innovators," said Skype General Counsel Robert Miller.

But AT&T told USA Today on Thursday that it has "every right" to expect partners such as Apple to refrain from promoting Skype. "We absolutely expect our vendors not to facilitate the services of our competitors," said Jim Cicconi, AT&T's top public policy executive. "Skype is a competitor, just like Verizon or Sprint or T-Mobile."

Any decision to give Skype a level playing field would have the most impact on the fees that AT&T and other carriers collect when their subscribers place international calls. According to Telegeography, Skype has become the largest provider of cross-border voice communications in the world with an eight percent share of the market in 2008.