A few years ago, Dish bought Boost Mobile from T-Mobile and became the 4th largest provider of wireless services. Back in May, The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon was in talks to partner with Dish to sell wireless plans through Amazon. Now Bloomberg says the deal is done, and Amazon will start selling cheap wireless plans this week.
This move would expand Amazon’s lineup of services by offering Amazon-branded plans to its customers. According to reports, Amazon could start selling wireless plans as soon as next month. However, there are issues to work out first before this deal can be finalized.
A partnership with Amazon could be the boost Dish needs to help it finish its 5G rollout and grow its wireless plans. Dish shares recently have fallen as investors worry over its wireless and 5G plans.
This is not the first time Amazon has gotten into the wireless market. In 2014 Amazon launched the Fire Phone, a short-lived smartphone running its own OS. Now though, they want to sell the wireless plans and let you use any phone you want.
Dish currently has about 8 million wireless subscribers, but that is down from 8.6 million last year. Right now Dish uses AT&T and T-Mobile networks but is building its own network that should allow it to move away from paying 3rd parties.
No word yet on pricing but Amazon is likely to try and use special offers targeting its Prime Membership to help attract new subscribers.
Cord Cutters News has reached out to Amazon and Dish and will update our story as we learn more.
Update: Dish declined to comment on the reported deal with Amazon.