American wireless giant, AT&T, announced today that it will allow VoIP applications to make use of its 3G broadband network.

This is a reversal of the carrier’s previous policy, under which internet telephony software such as Skype was blocked from using the network. This approach came under scrutiny from the Federal Communications Commission over the summer after Apple (which has an exclusive partnership with AT&T) excluded Google’s ‘Voice’ application from appearing in its iTunes App Store.

Some industry watchers speculated that AT&T may forced Apple to reject the Google application, in an effort to protect its wireless voice revenue stream. AT&T, however, says it was simply concerned that VoIP traffic would clog its 3G network, slowing down other applications.

The company says that its decision to allow VoIP traffic “was made after evaluating our customers’ expectations.”