Subscribers to the Amazon Prime package of services in the US will soon be able to get free or heavily discounted cell service, Bloomberg reports. Amazon would be negotiating with three American operators in recent weeks as a way to boost Prime, which already has fronts for streaming movies and series, music, express delivery, ebooks and more.
The move would come after Amazon noted that the increase in subscriptions there from US$ 119 to US$ 139 per year caused a stagnation in membership, with a total of 167 million members as of March 2022. The company also faces competition from services like Walmart Plus, which costs $98 a year.
According to Bloomberg, Amazon is negotiating with Verizon, T-Mobile and Dish for the lowest possible wholesale prices to then offer mobile service plans for as little as $10, or even free.
Operators are unlikely to be satisfied in the long run if this comes to fruition. On the one hand, a big deal like this could lead them to acquire millions of new customers, but they could be losing customers who pay more than $50 a month in favor of those same people who only pay $10 a month for the same plans. . Amazon, for its part, would not be afraid to lose billions of dollars in the short term in order to gain more in the future.
