FCC Proposes Delaying Phone Charge Increase

The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, trying to mollify congressional concerns, has proposed delaying the first two increments of a three-step, $1.50 monthly increase in local telephone charges, a House subcommittee official said Monday.

The first 60-cent increase in the $2-per-month subscriber line charge would take effect July 1 instead of June 1, said congressional and industry sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The June 1 date was approved last month by an advisory board of FCC commissioners and state regulators.

The second 60-cent increase, originally set to take effect Sept. 1, 1988, would be delayed three months, putting it into effect after the November elections, the sources said.

Pushing back the first increase “will provide breathing room for us to go through and evaluate the intricate details of the package,” said Gerard Salemme, senior policy analyst for the House telecommunications subcommittee.

Salemme declined to confirm the dates of the delays, saying the FCC still had to rule on the matter. The commission was expected to approve the three-step increase--including a final 30-cent boost in April, 1989--on Thursday.

FCC Chairman Mark S. Fowler proposed delaying the increases last Friday in talks with Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the subcommittee, Salemme said.

Fowler’s chief of staff, Jerald Fritz, declined to comment.

Members of the subcommittee who questioned Fowler and the other four commissioners at a hearing earlier this month wanted to know the reasoning behind the increase and its effect on consumers. Markey, in an April 8 letter to Fowler, asked the chairman to provide the panel more information on the effect of the increase.

Fowler has pushed to raise the charge, which helps pay the cost of the line that connects a customer’s telephone with the phone company’s central office. Because part of that cost also is buried in long-distance rates, raising subscribers’ share of the cost would reduce long-distance rates, he says.

Since the charge was initiated at $1 in June, 1985, long-distance rates have dropped about 30%, the FCC said.