New York - AT&T (NYSE: T), the nation's largest Internet service provider, is looking at charging its customers who consume the most bandwidth downloading and uploading content extra for its services, the Associated Press reports.

"A form of usage-based pricing for those customers who have abnormally high usage patterns is inevitable," AT&T spokesman Michael Coe said this week.

Coe added that 5% of the company's subscribers consume 46% of its total bandwidth, and that total bandwidth consumption is doubling every 1.5 years on AT&T's network.

The company as of yet has no specific plans or fees.

Broadband rival Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) began a test of a similar plan earlier this month with some subscribers in Texas, who will be charged an extra $1 per gigabyte they consume over a pre-ordained bandwidth cap.

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http://www.siliconvalley.com/latestheadlines/ci_9573392 (AP)