Dish Wireless has recently launched its unlimited mobile plan, significantly through the e-commerce platform Amazon. Its Boost Mobile sector is now offering its postpaid Infinite Unlimited plan to Amazon Prime users, with a small discount to kickstart its entry. Although a solid move, this new venture merely represents a measured advancement in Dish’s strategy to gain traction in the US market, given the ongoing reduction in its customer base.
Available to Amazon Prime subscribers, the Boost Infinite Unlimited SIM kit is now part of a $20 deal, a saving of $5 on the standard retail price. This special offer also includes a $25 credit to sweeten the deal. Users pay $25 monthly for unlimited voice, messaging, and data services. Dish’s commitment to maintain this pricing indefinitely is certainly an attractive feature, albeit with the potential compromise of reduced speeds for heavy data consumers.
The partnership with Amazon Prime is a key element of Dish’s ongoing intent to boost its customer numbers. This strategy was highlighted in Dish’s first quarter results call earlier this year when company leaders touted the forthcoming postpaid version of the unlimited plan as a major revenue-generator for the company’s network and a marketing and distribution catalyst.
The network development, however, still presents a significant challenge. Despite the company’s multibillion-dollar investment into the rollout of its own 5G cloud-native Open RAN network, the infrastructure currently hosts minimal traffic, with most still utilising the framework of MVNO retail alliance participants AT&T and T-Mobile US.
Device compatibility, too, presents an issue. Dish’s Band 70 spectrum is not compatible with many devices. By adding the iPhone 14 to its portfolio last month, it has addressed this issue to an extent. Unfortunately, the Amazon offer doesn’t introducenew devices.
In response, Dish asserted, “Boost Infinite makes it easy for Prime members to bring their compatible phones, keep their current phone numbers (or get new ones), enable the SIMs, activate via the Boost Infinite app, and get up and running with no hidden fees or minimum line requirements”.
While this statement offered an assurance of an easy transition to Boost for potential consumers, it also underscored that this plan may not significantly increase traffic to the new network.
Nevertheless, increasing the customer base is significant for Dish currently. Despite a reduction in quarterly losses earlier this year, it still lost approximately 290,000 subscribers over the past year, taking its current base to 7.91 million. This number pales when compared to the major players in the market, and is also smaller than the nine million subscribers it gained after acquiring Boost Mobile back in 2020.
Jeremy McCarty, head of Boost Infinite, said, “Amazon is the perfect place to offer this Boost Infinite exclusive deal, making it easy for Prime members to purchase our SIM kit online, with an exclusive 20% discount, and activate their postpaid wireless service without setting foot in a store,” He further noted that this approach focuses on enhancing the customer experience and maintaining simplicity.
While Amazon provides a strong platform for Dish to promote its products, there is a need for additional strategies to truly increase its customer base. Despite this, it represents a promising start on its journey towards market expansion.
