MORE COMPETITIVE AND CHEAPER LOCAL PHONE SERVICE? HOLD ON.(MAIN)

Byline: Knight-Ridder

WASHINGTON -- Consumers waiting for competition to drive down the cost of local telephone service can expect to wait a while longer.

The Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to let the Federal Communications Commission go ahead with a plan to grant competitors access to the $100 billion local phone market.

The court's action makes it far more likely that the process of opening up local phone markets, a cornerstone of the huge telecommunications reform bill that became law in February, will be managed by the individual states.

That means 50 state regulatory bodies will help set prices and arbitrate disputes between local …