Allegations have arisen that AT&T is abusing its power as a monopoly provider in US soldier’s PBXs in Iraq to block 1-800 numbers needed to use non-AT&T calling cards.

“The wholesale rate for calls to the US is less than one cent a minute. Skype charges about 1.5 cents RETAIL to call the US from anywhere in the world. You can buy prepaid cards almost anywhere in the world to call the US for less than two cents a minute. AT&T charges soldiers in Iraq twenty-one cents,” writes the Fractals of Change blog.

This blocking is illegal in the US. But, among a few other codicils and curlicues, telephony regulations are different in Iraq, informs AT&T.

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