Amazon Prime could eventually include cheap cell service
Maybe someday Amazon Prime will include your rent and health insurance, too.
Well, probably not, but one recent report indicates that Amazon wants Prime to intrude on yet another part of your life. According to Bloomberg, the $140/year subscription (including free shipping, discounts, and Prime Video, among other things) could eventually include cheap or free cell phone service. Bloomberg's report said Amazon is currently in talks with providers like T-Mobile and AT&T, though those same providers denied the report in statements given to PCMag.
The idea is that cell service would be included with a Prime subscription either for free or for $10/mo. That would obviously be a pretty massive bargain, which understandably could prompt cell providers to not enter into a deal with Amazon out of fear of losing business. These talks have reportedly been happening for only six to eight weeks, so it's not clear yet if the Prime cell service would include things like 5G network access.
Whether it does or not, Amazon could use an additional perk or two to make Prime even more enticing to customers. The research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners recently estimated that Prime has 167 million U.S. subscribers, down from 170 million a year ago. The high annual cost of the service as well as the recent relaxing of COVID-19 restrictions may have contributed to lagging subscription numbers.
It's hard to imagine Amazon Prime packaging more things into one subscription, but Amazon certainly seems keen to try.