Amazon Reportedly Looking to Offer Free or Low-Cost Wireless

don’t have plans to add wireless at this time," an Amazon spokesperson emailed. “Don’t bet on it,” said MoffettNathanson’s Craig Moffett. “Telecom isn’t the first industry to have been turned upside down by the very notion that Amazon might enter their business, and it surely won’t be the last,” Moffett told investors: “Amazon quite obviously could do this if they wanted to” and could do it for free “even though the annual wholesale cost of providing wireless service for even a single line would likely be higher than the annual price of a Prime subscription.” Moffett noted regulatory issues could give the company pause. Rules for customer information in telecom “are MUCH stricter than what Amazon faces today” and “introducing that regulatory risk would be unwise, in our view,” he said. Industry analyst Jeff Kagan said on the TD Ameritrade Network Friday that Amazon is now a much bigger company than 10 years ago and is “into everything.” Amazon “tried once before, so did Facebook … but they all flopped,” he said. Ten years later, Comcast and Charter have had success with wireless offerings and “the entire wireless marketplace is full of resellers,” Kagan said. “If Amazon wants to get in, I think they could be successful this time,” he said. Kagan noted a $10/month offering would be low, but most people can already get $15/month service from other providers.