AT&T Mobility President and CEO Ralph De La Vega today announced that the wireless carrier and Apple have been working together to provide tethering functionality for the iPhone. The announcement came as De La Vega was being interviewed by TechCrunch's Michael Arrington during the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.

The new functionality lets the phone serve as a wireless modem for users' PCs. While the feature has been rumored for some time, Apple has blocked attempts by third-parties to bring a similar solution to the popular handset, pulling NetShare from the iTunes App Store.