The big picture: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai earlier this month gave his blessing to T-Mobile's planned merger with Sprint so long as the two agreed to a number of commitments. Among them was a plan to divest Sprint's interest in Boost Mobile and apparently there's already a potential buyer waiting in the wings.
Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that Amazon is interested in purchasing the prepaid wireless company, primarily because it would allow them to use the new T-Mobile wireless network for a period of at least six years.
The sources said Amazon would also be interested in any wireless spectrum it could get its hands on.
Amazon is no stranger to exploring new ventures although in this case, it's not entirely clear why the e-commerce giant would want to dip its toes into the wireless industry. The most likely reason, however, is that Bezos and company see a major opportunity to get in on the ground level of the 5G revolution.
Potential bidders previously told Reuters that Boost could fetch as much as $3 billion. Analysts at Cowen said earlier this month that Boost likely has seven to eight million subscribers and could bring up to $4.5 billion if wireless spectrum was included in a sale.
Image credit: Boost Mobile by Eduardo Medrano