Martin publicly opposes call blocking

According to multiple accounts published on the Web, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said today that the commission has instructed large telcos such as AT&T and Qwest not to block calls placed to smaller LECs that are actually being routed overseas or to conference calling facilities.

Following a schedule public appearance in Silicon Valley, Martin is reported to have told a media gathering that the FCC told the larger companies that they cannot block consumer calls, even if they feel the telcos, which are based in Iowa, are conducting illegal traffic pumping schemes.

Traffic pumping involves routing large volumes of calls through rural ILEC exchanges in order to “pump up” the termination or access fees that larger carriers must pay to the rural companies. The rural companies then pay a marketing fee to the conference calling, international calling and dial-a-porn lines that use their exchanges.

A group of Iowa telcos is in a dispute with AT&T, Qwest, Embarq and others, saying the larger companies are blocking calls to numbers associated with their exchanges and refusing to pay millions in legal termination fees.

Martin told the assembled media that the FCC told the larger carriers they cannot block or degrade access to the calls involved. He added, however, that the disputed fees is a separate matter that the commission would need more time to address.