One influential analyst called Amazon.com
NEW YORK (Reuters) – One influential analyst called Amazon.com’s reported interest in the U. S. wireless market “batshit crazy.” Another said it was a “trojan horse” to kill off the big wireless players.
What’s becoming clear to the people who track the company is the ambitions of the world’s largest online retailer’s go far beyond replacing your phone service.
Amazon is interested in acquiring Boost Mobile, which will be sold by U. S. wireless carriers T-Mobile US Inc and Sprint Corp as part of plans to win regulatory approval of their proposed $26.5 billion merger, primarily because a purchase would include a six-year contract that allows access to the combined company’s wireless network, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing a source familiar with the matter.
The ambition signaled that Amazon is looking to dive deeper into the wireless industry, strengthen its cloud services and ultimately take advantage of the next-generation 5G networks that are expected to transform major facets of technology, according to analysts.
That means the tech giant, which has evolved from a mere bookseller to a superstore of physical and digital products, could be setting its sights on taking on carriers such as AT&T Inc and strengthening itself against rival cloud providers like Microsoft.
