The new Chairman of the FCC, Tom Wheeler, has told mobile carriers in the US, that he wants them to unlock smartphones, at the moment, devices can be unlocked with the permission of the existing carrier.
The FCC have bee working together with the CTIA to develop some clear rules and guidelines for the mobile carriers, this has been going on for around 8 months.
Now Tom Wheeler has written to the CTIA, and the latter has basically told the CTIA if they can not come up with guidelines and rules for unlocking of devices, then the FCC will take regulatory action.
The letter details five points that the FCC wants the CTIA to address.
*Provide a clear, concise and readily accessible policy on unlocking
* Unlock mobile devices for legitimate owners of those devices once their service contract has been fulfilled
* Notify customers when their devices are eligible to be unlocked and/or automatically unlock those devices for free
* Unlock devices or provide an explanation of a denial of any unlock requests within two days
* Unlock devices for military service men and women upon deployment
At the moment, having your smartphone unlocked is a pain, we have a similar system in the UK as they do in the US, and the carriers seem to make it as difficult as possible, and take as much time as they can to unlock your device. Hopefully the FCC in the US will make it easier for people to have their smartphone unlocked.
Source The Droid Guy
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