By Monica Alleven
Monday, November 5, 2007
Rebtel, a VoIP international calling service provider, says several U.S. carriers have rejected a short code campaign in a move the company calls anti-competitive.
Rebtel has been using short codes in Europe to allow people to get local numbers straight from their mobile phones so they don't have to go to a computer, but in the United States, it's running into road blocks. Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA and Alltel Wireless rejected its plans for a short code campaign, according to Rebtel.
Rebtel representatives note that Verizon Wireless refused a campaign for Naral Pro-Choice America in September, a move the carrier later said was a mistake and reversed course. With Naral, it was all about free speech and political activism. "With us, their denial, in our opinion, is really an anti-competitive abuse of power," says Rebtel spokesman Greg Spector. "We're not doing anything illegal. We're not doing anything wrong. We just want to give users the ability to use short codes to set up local numbers" and avoid paying "exorbitant rates" on international calls to friends and family, he says.
Verizon Wireless spokesman Jeffrey Nelson says the carrier rejected the application about six months ago, and the decision wasn't appealed. "As a matter of policy, we reject advertising from competitors," just as it would not accept advertising from AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile USA. The situation is parallel to a major newspaper not accepting ads from another paper, he says.
An Alltel spokesman was not immediately available for comment. According to Rebtel, Alltel opted out of the program, saying the campaign "cannibalizes" its international rates. T-Mobile stated no reason for not participating.
Rebtel's system requires a caller to use a local phone number, and calls go through its server. When a caller uses the system, the recipient on the other end using a mobile phone must drop the call, then press the "send" button for the call to go through.