Dish and Amazon Team up to Offer Mobile Plans

Dish Wireless has taken a step towards enhancing its position in the US market by launching its unlimited mobile plan through Amazon. The operator’s Boost Mobile unit has made its postpaid Infinite Unlimited plan available to Amazon Prime members, offering a discounted price of $20 for the Boost Infinite Unlimited SIM kit, along with a $25 credit as an added incentive. The plan itself costs $25 per month and includes unlimited voice, messaging, and data, with Dish emphasizing that this price is locked in forever, although there may be speed reductions for heavy users.

This move comes as Dish seeks to expand its customer base, which has been declining over time. Company executives have been discussing the launch of the postpaid version of the unlimited plan as part of their efforts to monetize the network they have built and to ramp up marketing and distribution.

Dish has been facing challenges regarding its network infrastructure, as it continues to invest billions in rolling out its own 5G cloud-native Open RAN network. Currently, the infrastructure relies heavily on the networks of MVNO partners AT&T and T-Mobile US, with Dish’s network carrying limited traffic.

One of the hurdles Dish has encountered is the availability of compatible handsets for its Band 70 spectrum. While adding the iPhone 14 to its portfolio is a positive development, the Amazon deal doesn’t include new devices or bundled phones with the offer, at least for now.

Despite these challenges, Dish is focused on attracting more customers to its services. While it reported lower quarterly losses in the January-to-March period compared to the previous year, it still lost 81,000 customers in Q1 and around 290,000 over 12 months, bringing its current base to 7.91 million. This is significantly fewer than the major competitors and even lower than the 9 million customers it acquired when it purchased Boost Mobile in 2020.

Jeremy McCarty, Head of Boost Infinite, highlighted Amazon as an ideal platform to offer the Boost Infinite exclusive deal, providing Prime members with easy online access to the SIM kit and activating their postpaid wireless service without visiting a physical store. While Amazon is a good starting point for Dish to promote its offerings, the company will need more strategies to achieve significant growth in the market. Nonetheless, the Amazon partnership represents a promising beginning.