Level 3 Communications on Monday withdrew a petition before the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that sought to reduce access charges paid to telecommunications carriers when calls originated over VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) end on the traditional telephone network. Level 3 said in a statement it had withdrawn its request because of a leadership change at the FCC. On March 16, U.S. President George Bush named Commissioner Kevin Martin as FCC chairman, replacing Michael Powell, who left the FCC this month.
The FCC was required to rule on the Level 3 petition by Tuesday if commissioners wanted to deny it. If the FCC failed to act, the Level 3 petition would have been automatically granted. "Given the appointment of new leadership only three business days before the statutory deadline for ruling on the petition, we determined it was inappropriate to ask the agency to resolve this important issue in the timeframe required by law," James Crowe, Level 3"s chief executive officer, said in a statement.