FCC chief supports AT&T bid to waive rule

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said he had approved the petition submitted by AT&T, which asked for the rule to be waived, and called the rule "decades-old regulations that don't make as much sense anymore."

Martin said AT&T has estimated it costs $10 million a year for the company to abide to the rule.

"I think it's important for us to try to respond to deregulatory efforts that would save the companies a significant amount of revenue, and particularly for rules and regulations that are no longer required...," Martin said.

Under the rules, AT&T said it had to maintain a "vast system" to break down and report costs ranging from office space, to employees, to company transactions, including a system of codes and a manual more than 100 pages long.

AT&T says the regulations represent an era when the company was a monopoly and the rates it charged were based on costs, but it now operates in a competitive marketplace.