WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Communications Commission voted Wednesday to allow Qwest Communications International Inc. to sell long-distance phone service in its entire region, approving the final such application for a regional Bell.

Qwest’s petition for Arizona was the last by a former Bell company to enter a long-distance market after the FCC broke up AT&T in 1984 and barred the local regional Bells from providing long distance in their local markets.

The application process to offer long-distance services began in 1997, when Ameritech submitted the first application from a former Bell company. The application was later withdrawn. The FCC approved its first application in December 1999, when Bell Atlantic’s New York application was approved.

FCC Chairman Michael Powell said the Arizona application approval marks the «end of a long and difficult road.» Regional Bells can now sell long-distance service in 48 states and the District of Columbia.

«The barrier between local and long-distance service has finally been removed,» Powell said. «Consumers throughout the country will continue to enjoy innovative new choices that make the concept of separate local and long distance markets a thing of the past.»

FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy said the commission’s work is not done. The commission needs to ensure that the markets remain competitive, she said.

In a joint statement, commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, the two Democrats on the commission, said the FCC has failed to adequately ensure markets remain competitive beyond the first year that a carrier’s application is approved.

Qwest already provides local service to nearly 2.7 million customers in Arizona. The Denver-based company expects to begin taking orders for long-distance calling plans from Arizona customers later this month.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 allows companies to offer long-distance services once it has shown that local service in its area has been opened to competition. Qwest said it spent more than $3 billion complying with the competition requirement.

Qwest currently provides long-distance service to more than 1.7 million customer lines in 13 states in its local service territory.