AT&T may introduce lower priced data plans

AT&T Mobility is considering introducing new, less expensive data plans, CEO Ralph de La Vega said yesterday while speaking at the Reuters Global Technology Summit in New York.

Specifically, de la Vega said that while it would be costly for the carrier to lower the price of its unlimited data plans, it might consider limited data plans for lower fees. "Right now we continue to study what is the best thing that is available, not just from an iPhone point of view, but what you can do to stimulate additional demand," he said according to Reuters.

Rumors have circulated over the past week that AT&T is mulling cutting the price of the iPhone's minimum monthly data plan from $70 to $60. However, de le Vega dismissed the idea that the carrier would offer an iPhone without a data plan, which he said would be bad business. "Our business is to sell services," he said, noting that AT&T heavily subsidizes the cost of the iPhone.

He also touted the expansion of AT&T's portfolio of embedded 3G netbooks. The company announced it would sell Acer, Dell and Lenovo netbooks in its stores nationwide, expanding from its current netbook effort in Atlanta and Philadelphia. AT&T began selling netbooks for as low as $50 beginning in April.

AT&T's netbook move is notable considering Verizon Wireless recently announced plans to sell an HP netbook nationwide.

For more:
- see this Reuters article [1]
- see this release [2]

Related Articles:
Report: AT&T mulls cheaper iPhone data [3] plans
AT&T offering netbooks for as low as $50 [4]
Report: Verizon jumping into netbook market [5]
AT&T [6] says subsidy model good for business
RadioShack announces $99 netbook [7] tied to AT&T data contract