Amazon reportedly looking to bundle phone contracts with Prime

Amazon is thinking about offering mobile contracts with Prime subscriptions in the US, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The Bloomberg report, citing ‘people familiar with the situation’ claims that Amazon has held negotiations with US operators including Verizon, T-Mobile, Dish, and AT&T about tapping into their networks to offer mobile connectivity, and then offered to Prime subscribers as part of their existing subscription or for $10 a month.

However Amazon spokesperson Bradley Mattinger is quoted as denying any such move is currently being pursued: “We are always exploring adding even more benefits for Prime members, but don’t have plans to add wireless at this time.”

T-Mobile and Verizon have also said they are not in negotiations according to Cnet, and AT&T told the Verge: ‘AT&T is not in discussions with Amazon to resell wireless services.’

Based on yet more secret sources familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that fellow US mobile operator Dish is holding talks with Amazon and could unveil details of new mobile plans to be sold on Amazon as soon as next month.

In a comment to the paper, Dish said it does not have any type of distribution deal or partnership with Amazon at present – which of course doesn’t rule out one coming into existence in the future.

Amazon has proved itself more than willing to pile into any market it can, launching successful businesses in sectors all over the map such as groceries, TV production, and cloud computing. So it certainly wouldn’t be much of a surprise to see it extend a tentacle into phone contracts either. And it probably has a ‘customer relationship’ with most people in the US already.

However, if there is anything to these whispers from unnamed sources, everyone involved at the present moment appears to be keeping publicly quiet, so we’ll have to just wait and see if there is anything to it.

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