Business Notes TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Executives in the information-services business are in a tizzy about a proposal by the Federal Communications Commission that would make it much more expensive to send and receive electronic data over telephone lines. More than 1.7 million household and business customers with computers subscribe to about 3,000 electronic-informati on services, which furnish everything from stock- price quotes to job listings. The information passes from the phone line to the computer through a connective device called a modem. These services are carried by data networks, which under the FCC plan would have to pay $4 to $5 an hour per user to local phone companies for the right to transmit and receive material over their lines. The fees would be passed on to customers and could roughly double current usage charges.

Executives say the access fee would be a heavy blow to a still young industry. Customers are not happy either. Last week computer buffs were already flashing electronic messages to one another in an effort to organize a "modem march" on Washington.