American Telephone & Telegraph will raise its basic night and weekend long-distance phone prices by 2.2 percent, beginning Nov. 2, the company said on Monday.
"The change is necessary to bring prices in line with costs," said Merrill Tutton, vice president of AT&T Consumer Services.The company said the increase will result in about $39.4 million in increased annual revenue.
That amounts to about 5 cents on an average $16 monthly long-distance bill, the company said.
AT&T said the increase applies only to out-of-state direct-dialed long-distance calls made during night and weekend hours.
These are after 11 p.m. Sunday through Friday and all weekend until 5 p.m. Sunday.
The company said that overall its out-of-state direct-dialed long-distance rates have gone down about 42 percent since the breakup of the Bell System in 1984.