DATE: Tuesday, October 7, 1997              TAG: 9710070312

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 

                                            LENGTH:   26 lines

COST OF A PAY-PHONE CALL MAY GO UP

A local call from a pay phone may cost more than a quarter beginning today.

The Federal Communications Commission has determined the Telecommunications Act of 1996 prohibits states from regulating public pay phone rates.

Removing regulations on public pay phones may also mean that some phone operators begin limiting the duration of local calls, the State Corporation Commission reported.

The SCC filed a court appeal of the FCC's determination, but lost. There are 52,000 public pay phones in Virginia, about 40,000 of which are operated by local exchange carriers such as Bell Atlantic and GTE.

The largest increases for pay phone calls will likely take place in remote areas where phones are expensive to install and maintain, according to the American Public Communications Council, a trade association representing payphone providers.

That trade group says costs of maintaining pay phones ``have risen tremendously since the late 1970s'' when the 25 cent price was established.

In rural states where deregulation has already taken place payphone prices have risen to 35 cents, APCC reported.

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