Advocacy Group Asks FCC To Probe Efficacy of Wireless Industry's Voluntary Phone Unlocking Commitments

A public interest group has asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to look at whether the wireless industry's voluntary phone unlocking commitments are even effective, claiming the practice harms competition. From a report: The advocacy group, Public Knowledge, met with FCC staffers last week and filed the comment shortly afterwards, arguing the practice of locking phones to a network makes it 'more difficult for consumers to change carriers,' reduces the number of devices available on the secondary market, and hurts smaller players on the scene. The nonprofit filed the request as part of an ongoing investigation by the FCC into the State of Competition in the Communications Marketplace, conducted biennially by the agency. The group is hoping the agency will throw its weight behind policy efforts to change this.

Americans can unlock their handsets from the services of the carrier that sold it to them, but the procedure can be a headache. The fact that consumers can unlock them free of charge came about in 2015, when carriers were told to give customers a 'penalty-free' way to unlock them under the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act. The Act allows 'circumvention (unlocking) to be initiated by the owner' but only 'when such connection is authorized by the operator of such network' -- after their service contracts expire. Public Knowledge added that the practice of locking phones disadvantages low-income customers and places a 'burden on smaller carriers, new entrants, and MVNOs in particular... due to a lack of handset availability,' compounded 'by the competitive disadvantages caused by agreements between the handset manufacturers and the larger service provides like AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, which smaller carriers may not be able to negotiate.'

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