NEWARK Two state officials last week demanded that Verizon Communications Inc., the dominant provider of local phone service in New Jersey, continue to provide four free calls to directory assistance a month. “New Jersey families and businesses do not have a comparable substitute for Verizon’s directory assistance service,” Public Advocate Ronald K. Chen said in a statement. “Cellular directory assistance services, for example, are far more expensive and available only to a certain portion of the population. Internet-based services are also not comparable.” Chen said it would be “fundamentally unfair to consumers” if the State Board of Public Utilities allowed Verizon to end the commitment it made in 2002 to provide affordable directory assistance service. That deal mandated four free calls per month, with other calls costing 50 cents. Seema M. Singh, the state rate counsel, joined Chen and said that Verizon’s directory assistance should not be reclassified as a competitive service. It is now considered noncompetitive. Verizon has asked the BPU to reclassify the service as competitive. “If they can get the board to agree to reclassify them as competitive, they would no longer be under the jurisdiction of the Board of Public Utilities, so they can charge whatever they want,” Singh’s spokeswoman Robyn Roberts said. The state officials believe Verizon would eliminate free directory assistance calls if the BPU grants the change, Roberts said. Verizon spokesman Rich Young said no decision has been made on whether the four free calls would be scrapped, or what Verizon would charge for directory assistance calls. “These officials need to understand that Verizon is no longer a monopoly in the local phone business,” Young said. “New Jersey consumers have a myriad of options for information in this area, including the Internet, phone books and other service providers, some of which are free.” He said some of Verizon’s competitors have no obligation to provide directory service, and that Verizon needs to recover costs for the service. A BPU hearing officer heard testimony Tuesday from Singh’s office, and a BPU commissioner is to have further hearings this month.