Amazon in talks to offer mobile phone service to Prime subscribers

Watch out, it’s Amazon! This is how the leaders of the telecom groups had to welcome the information that fell on Friday afternoon and which caused all the major players in the sector to drop out on the stock market. In Paris, Orange dropped more than 1% in a market which, on the contrary, accelerated on the announcement of much better than expected job creation in the United States. In Frankfurt, Deutsche Telekom fell by more than 6%. Elsewhere in Europe, BT Group and Telefonica lost more than 2%.

According to the Bloomberg news agency, Amazon has been discussing with wireless carriers the possibility of offering low-cost or possibly free national mobile phone service to its Prime subscribers, The cloud and e-commerce giant would negotiate with Verizon Communications, T-Mobile US and Dish Network to get the lowest possible wholesale prices. This would allow it to offer its Prime members wireless plans for only $10 a month, or even free, and further retain its best customers.

“No plans to add wireless at this time”

On Wal Street, shares of Dish, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile US, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, are down more than 5%. Amazon is up more than 2%.

The talks have been going on for six to eight weeks, reports Bloomberg again, and the implementation of this project could take several months before its launch, or be simply abandoned. ” We’re still exploring adding new benefits for our Prime members, but we have no plans to add wireless at this time. “, reacted Maggie Sivon, spokesperson for Amazon.

In the United States, Amazon Prime subscribers pay $139 a year for privileges such as fast free shipping, video streaming and access to 100 million songs. However, analysts say membership in the service has stagnated in the country since the group increased the annual fee by $20. About 167 million Amazon shoppers had a Prime subscription as of March last year, a year-over-year level, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. Amazon is thus in competition with Walmart Inc., whose $98 per year subscription to its “Walmart+” formula is becoming a less expensive alternative for the consumer, with the same advantages as Prime in terms of delivery and even free food delivery for orders of at least 35 dollars. At Amazon, this threshold is set at $150.