Last week CNet reported that Skype is petitioning the FCC to apply the “Carterfone” rules to the mobile phone industry, which would “allow consumers to use devices and software of their choice on cell phone networks”. The Carterfone rules were introduced in the US in 1968 and allowed consumers to hook up any device to the phone network as long as it did not harm the network...it’s applied to landlines for a while but so far not to wireless services. Obviously Skype is keen to prevent telcos from preventing customers from using VoIP services on their networks (it’s a plan for the future, Skype is aware it’s not feasible yet), and in fact the original Carterfone rules were intended to allow people to use a cheap phone developed by Thomas Carter instead of the more expensive AT&T phones, according to Tech.Blorge. However, the rules paved the way for the fax machine and the modem—effectively allowing the internet to be created—and ended up having effects far beyond that of voice. It’s probably that if Skype’s petition is granted it would have a similar effect, with cheap voice calls becoming almost incidental once the creative juices really get going and companies start to use the service in innovative ways.