Recently Bloomberg reported that they have talked with people who had knowledge of the plans for Amazon to offer free or $10 a month unlimited 5G service. Reportedly Amazon wants to use the ability to offer cheap or free phone service to Prime members as a way to get more customers to buy from Amazon.
Reportedly Amazon was in talks with T-Mobile, Verizon, and Dish to offer this wireless service.
Now though Amazon and T-Mobile have publicly denied the report.
Bradley Matinger, an Amazon spokesperson, reached out to Cord Cutters News with this statement on Bloomberg’s story: “We are always exploring adding even more benefits for Prime members, but don’t have plans to add wireless at this time.”
T-Mobile, in a statement to Cord Cutters News, said, “Amazon is a great partner to T-Mobile in many areas, and we are always interested in working more closely with our cross-town neighbors in new ways. However, we are not in discussions about inclusion of our wireless in Prime service, and Amazon has told us they have no plans to add wireless service.”
This is not the first time a report of Amazon’s plans to offer wireless plans has been made. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Dish is in talks to partner with Dish to sell wireless plans through Amazon.
It is important to note that DISH and Verizon have not denied the reports from Bloomberg or The Wall Street Journal.
So are the reports true? The only people who really know that are Amazon, Dish, and Verizon. It seems that both The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg feel confident in their reporting.
Amazon’s response is very interesting. They didn’t say they were not going to offer wireless just denied it was happening with Amazon Prime or at least that they are not going to be doing it right now. So does right now mean today? This year? Its very hard to know exactly what to make of this.
For now we will have to wait and see what Amazon does with any possible wireless offering.