A recent petition by BellSouth Corp. to the FCC “might cause serious problems” for VoIP service providers, says Jeff Pulver, president and CEO of Pulver.com.

The petition could limit “the ability of unaffiliated ISPs and VoIP application service providers [without their own underlying telecom transmission facilities] to continue to be viable providers of VoIP services,” he continues.

The petition – which Pulver calls “this season’s sleeper issue” – asks for changes to two areas of FCC rules: the so-called Computer Inquiry Rules and features of the common-carriage requirements for broadband networks. BellSouth is asking for “forbearance” on both rules.

Full Story here.