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Amazon might partner with Dish to enter US wireless market

According to the latest report from The Wall Street Journal, Amazon and Dish are discussing a potential partnership to enter the US wireless business.
By
July 6, 2017

According to the latest report from The Wall Street Journal, Amazon and Dish are discussing a potential partnership to enter the US wireless business.

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If you’ve been following the American broadcast satellite service provider Dish Network, you probably know about its complicated history of attempted (and failed) mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships. All the way back in 2013, Dish made a bid to buy Sprint but was outbid by SoftBank, which now owns the struggling American carrier. AT&T tried to buy Dish a few years ago, but it ended up buying DirecTV instead. Dish and T-Mobile reportedly held talks regarding a possible merger in 2015, but that fell apart too. Now, we have a rather surprising potential partner: Amazon.

Of course, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is no stranger to unexpected deals. After all, just less than a month ago, the online retail giant announced its $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods, which could literally transform the way we grocery shop in the future. Jeff Bezos himself has previously emphasized the importance of disruptive changes:

We look into the future and we always see an intensively competitive environment, a world that is awash in disruptive change and new technologies.

And according to sources familiar with the matter, he might be getting ready to shake up the US wireless industry with the help of Dish. Dish CEO Charlie Ergen and Jeff Bezos share a common interest in technology and robotics and have reportedly been discussing a possible partnership. No deal is imminent, clarifies The Wall Street Journal, but if the two companies were to move forward with a partnership, there might be several market implications.

No deal is imminent, clarifies The Wall Street Journal, but if the two companies were to move forward with a partnership, there might be several market implications.

Dish’s core satellite TV business could expand Amazon’s Prime Video offering, and Dish’s wireless network could bring more connectivity options for Amazon’s Dash buttons, improvements to its virtual assistant Alexa, and more stable control over its planned drone delivery. Not only that, Amazon and Dish could launch a wireless network, which could bring affordable data plans for products like the Amazon Fire tablet and Amazon Prime exclusive phones. While Amazon had no success with its Fire smartphone, if it manages to offer Amazon-esque pricing for phone and tablet plans, it could have a significant impact on the US wireless market.

Indeed, the discussion around a potential partnership is in its nascent stage (and it may never happen), but it could be beneficial for both companies: Amazon has been increasingly branching out to mobile electronics, and Dish has, for some time now, expressed interest in building a wireless network.

What are your thoughts on Amazon-Dish partnership? Do you think we will see more of Amazon’s presence in the future? Let us know by leaving a comment below!