OTI to Carr: Move Forward with 60-Day Unlocking Mandate

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2025 – Might Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr be close to calling for a vote to require mobile phone unlocking? 

He likely has the votes to issue a unanimous decision. 

Michael Calabrese of the Wireless Future Open Technology Institute at New America, paid a visit to Carr’s office last week (before Carr officially became Chairman) to advocate for a phone-unlocking mandate.

“Consistent with our consumer group comments and more recent joint public interest letter, a policy of automatic unlocking of all phones… would promote its goals of promoting competition in the handset and wireless markets, while preserving the ability of carriers to detect and prevent fraud and to offer low-cost handsets,” Calabrese wrote in a Jan. 21 FCC filing.