Filed at 6:31 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Verizon Communications (VZ.N), the No. 1 U.S. local telephone carrier, won permission on Monday from federal regulators to offer long-distance telephone and data services in New Jersey.

The Federal Communications Commission unanimously approved the application, agreeing that Verizon had sufficiently opened its local telephone networks to rivals in the mid-Atlantic state, a market the company estimated to be worth $2.2 billion.

``Approval of Verizon's application promises substantial benefits for the state's consumers in the form of enhanced competition in both the local and long distance markets,'' the FCC said in a statement.

The 1996 Telecommunications Act bars dominant local telephone carriers like Verizon from providing long-distance services in their home territories until they give competitors access to its networks, including wires that connect homes and businesses as well as databases for entering new orders.

``New Jersey consumers and businesses will be able to get a complete complement of telecommunications services from Verizon, a company they know and trust,'' Dennis Bone, president of Verizon New Jersey said in a statement.

Some 610,000 lines in New Jersey are served by competitors, according to the FCC. About 10 percent of those served by the competitors are residential lines. About 361,000 lines are served by competitors using their own facilities, instead of Verizon's.

Verizon won approval even though it admitted offering long-distance service to some 554,000 New Jersey residents before receiving the required FCC approval to provide it. The company could face a fine by the regulators.

Rival AT&T Corp. (T.N), the biggest U.S. long-distance provider, argued that early marketing of the service in New Jersey warranted an investigation and a suspension of the agency's consideration of the New Jersey application.

``Verizon's application should have been rejected,'' AT&T spokeswoman Claudia Jones said. ``At a minimum, the FCC should have stayed any long distance authority until completion of an investigation into these very serious violations.''

Verizon had to withdraw its first application for New Jersey in March when it faced rejection by the FCC in part because of concerns about prices charged for disconnecting a customer from its network and switching to a rival, among other issues.

The company has won similar approval in seven other states, representing almost 75 percent of the lines in its territory that stretches from Maine to Virginia. It also offers long-distance in 36 other states.

It needs six more approvals before it will have completed the process to offer long-distance in its entire home local telephone service area.

Shares of the New York-based company closed down 55 cents, or nearly 1.4 percent, to $39.70 on the New York Stock Exchange.