AT&T Could Charge Apple iPhone Users for FaceTime in the Future

The controversy surrounding AT&T's (NYSE:

) desire to

is heating up after rumors spread that the company will charge Apple (NASDAQ:

) iPhone users for 3G FaceTime access.

The official word from AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson is that it is "too early" to reveal that information. "I've heard the same rumor," he said, as quoted by

. "It's too early to talk about pricing." While it is nice to know that AT&T's chief executive is familiar with a rumor that

has heard, his decision to evade the question speaks to the company's history with new fees and price increases. Verizon (NYSE:

) may get all the attention for being the first to announce a

, but it was AT&T that worked the hardest and fastest to prevent customers from enjoying the luxury of unlimited data. If Sprint (NYSE:

) was a bigger company, AT&T

of its unlimited plans. Still, AT&T remains the number-one telecommunications company in America. In fact, a survey of business IT buyers revealed that future wireless subscribers plan to

more than any other service provider to satisfy their tablet data needs. Right now, AT&T charges iPad users

of 4G LTE data (per month). Customers who are willing to spend $50 can get 5GB of data. Hulu and Netflix (NASDAQ:

) users know that 5GB does not go very far. However, if

are correct, jailbroken iPhones can make a five-minute FaceTime call without using more than 15MB of data. In theory, this should mean that data-conscious consumers have nothing to worry about. However, if the data usage is really that low, AT&T will not be able to profit from additional data use. Thus, the company may be inspired to charge a separate monthly fee for the newly added feature.