AT&T has pledged to reduce smartphone subsidies this year as part of a plan to control costs and boost revenue, reports Reuters.

According to the report, AT&T has already said it would keep 2012 smartphone sales limited to 2011 levels to cut down on upgrade costs, and now plans to reduce subsidies for the phones it does offer.

“You can take it to the bank that our thrust is to lower [subsides] in every case that we can," said Ralph de la Vega, the head of the company's mobile business, on an investor call yesterday.  He declined to give a specific estimate for subsidy levels.

AT&T also announced plans for a new offering that would allow consumers to share their data allowance between tablets and smartphones – mirroring plans announced this week by rival Verizon Wireless.

Customers currently have to sign on for separate data plans for every wireless device they want to connect to its network, but this is set to change, says de la Vega.

"What we need to be able to do is to allow customers to connect those tablets to some of the existing data plans that they have, to be able to share them in a way that will drive more revenue for us, but also give a good deal to customers," he said.