Report: Amazon Wants to Give Cheap or Free Phone Plans to US Prime Members

Amazon is reportedly in discussions with wireless carriers in the US to offer cheap or free phone plans to Prime subscribers in the country. According to Bloomberg, Amazon is currently in talks with Verizon, T-Mobile, and Dish Network to give this new perk to Prime members.

“The talks have been going on for six to eight weeks and have also included AT&T Inc. at times, but the plan may take several more months to launch and could be scrapped,” one person familiar with the negotiations told Bloomberg. The report says that Amazon’s goal is to “offer Prime members wireless plans for $10 a month or possibly for free.”

Amazon Prime is currently priced at $139 a year in the US, and it includes various benefits such as free delivery, shopping discounts, various entertainment options with Prime Video and Amazon Music Prime, free ebooks with Prime Reading, as well as exclusive in-game loot and free games with Prime Gaming. Amazon Prime remains good value even though its price has continued to increase in recent years. The last price increase happened in February when the annual fee went from $119 to $139.

Amazon launching a new “Prime wireless” perk could help to make the subscription more attractive. In April of this year, the company dismissed that the growth of Prime subscriptions has been stagnating. “Prime membership continues to grow year-over-year—in the U.S. and worldwide—as the value members receive continues to increase,” an Amazon spokesperson told GeekWire.

Even though US mobile carriers may be interested in increasing their revenue by teaming up with Amazon. However, they may also not welcome this new competition with open arms. In a statement shared with Bloomberg, Amazon said that “We are always exploring adding even more benefits for Prime members, but don’t have plans to add wireless at this time.”