BellSouth Corp. dodged an inquiry from the Federal Communications Commission late Friday when it hastily dropped a $2.97-per-month fee that it had been charging its high-speed Internet customers — even after an equivalent FCC tariff to BellSouth had expired.

As late as 4 p.m. Friday, BellSouth publicly declared its commitment to continue to levy the “Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge” to customers “to offset costs incurred in complying with regulatory obligations and other expenses.”