Regulation

The monthly cost of ordinary local telephone service has long been a bargain subsidized by comparatively heavy charges levied on long-distance callers. Now the bargain may be slashed. Last week a seven-member panel of federal and state telephone regulators recommended to the Federal Communications Commission the phasing in over the next two years of a $1.50-a-month increase in the $2 subscriber line fee charged to households and small businesses across the country. The hike would be used in part to lower long-distance charges by as much as $17 billion over the next six years.