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AT&T (T) has replied to a Federal Communications Commission letter of inquiry into the role it played in the rejection of a number of third-party Google (GOOG) Voice apps from Apple’s (AAPL) iTunes App Store as well as Google’s official GV client. The gist of the reply: Don’t look at us.

“AT&T does not manage or approve applications for the App Store,” the company said in a statement. “We have received the letter and will, of course, respond to it.”

A flat denial, and one that would seem to throw Apple under the bus for denying iPhone owners access to GV. Though just why Cupertino would take issue with an an iPhone application that offers free text messaging and allows users make calls, routed via the Internet, for free in the United States and for a small fee internationally is unclear. After all, it’s not Apple’s domestic and international calling business the app is potentially encroaching on.

And AT&T is being somewhat disingenuous here since it acknowledged this past May that it had SlingPlayer for iPhone black-holed from the App Store because of concerns over bandwidth. “ So while it might not directly “manage or approve applications” it’s clearly capable of influencing their management and approval. Could it be that Apple is contractually bound to reject apps that might compete with AT&T’s service? An agreement like that would certainly make it easy for AT&T to adopt the hey-don’t-look-at-me stance its taken with the FCC.

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