P.M. BRIEFING : Amex Credit Cards Cover Phones

American Express Co. today announced new services that will let cardholders bill long-distance telephone calls using their familiar green charge cards.

The move heats up competition in the credit card market for telephone services, following AT&T;’s introduction of its Universal card earlier this year.

American Express said the service will eliminate separate long-distance telephone bills for users and can lessen the number of cards people carry when traveling.

The New York-based travel and financial services company said members will be able to have long-distance calls placed via MCI or US Sprint billed to their American Express card accounts.

It said the billing statements will include full details, including date, time, place, number called, length and amount of the call. With the service, called Connect Plus, calls may be billed from home or while away, American Express said.

MCI Communications Corp., based in Washington, is the nation’s second-largest long-distance phone company after American Telephone & Telegraph Co., which dominates the market. Sprint, the No. 3 long-distance company, is owned by United Telecommunications Inc. of Kansas City.

No exact figures on the size of the market were available.