<B>By JEANNINE AVERSA<P> <B>Associated Press Writer<P> WASHINGTON (AP) - Just 18 months after Congress deregulated the communications industry, the nation's top telephone regulator asked lawmakers Thursday for more tools to bring Americans local phone competition. "So far, scarcely any local competition has been delivered to residential or business consumers," Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt said in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute. "We have a major challenge to introduce competition in the local telephone markets and that challenge is not yet being met," he said. Hundt asked Congress to write into law provisions: -Giving the FCC authority to set national pricing rules for those seeking access to local phone networks. -Requiring courts to defer to reasonable FCC judgments in disputes over the telecommunications law. -Consolidating appeals over the telecommunications law and FCC rules before a single unspecified court. -Creating a national policy to enforce the telecommunications law, giving the FCC power to compensate injured parties. The FCC now can order violators to stop breaking the law and fine offenders. Congressional hearings into the slow pace of local phone competition are slated for this fall. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Commerce Committee that oversees telecommunications policy, said when asked about the proposals, "I do not think that giving the FCC more authority to regulate is the answer." [...]