Google Voice could go global

Google has accidentally let slip some secret plans relating to its Google Voice call management service, revealing that the service may be coming to markets outside the US soon.

Business Week managed to sneak a look at Google’s “improperly formatted” PDF letter to US regulator the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In it, Google says the service has 1.419 million users, and of those, 570,000 use it seven days a week.

The letter also reveals that Google has signed contracts with a number of "international service providers for inputs to Google Voice” – hinting that the service may well go global shortly, although it adds that none of these services have been launched yet.

The FCC launched an investigation into Google Voice earlier this month after AT&T and others raised concerns that Google is blocking certain calls in rural parts of the US, undermining the principles of net neutrality.

The regulator then sent Google a letter asking it to explain how Google Voice works and why it is blocking calls, a practice prohibited by the FCC.

The service also came under the FCC spotlight in July, after it investigated allegations that Apple was deliberately delaying approving the service for use on the iPhone, saying that the device may already have features which are very similar to the service.