T-Mobile: FCC's Unlocking Mandate Will Cost Consumers

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18, 2024 – The Un-Carrier has a big problem with unlocking. 

Unlike Verizon, T-Mobile is fighting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's plan to require smartphone unlocking after 60 days from network activation unless the device was acquired through fraud. 

"If the FCC mandates a uniform unlocking policy, it is consumers – not providers – who stand to lose the most," T-Mobile officials said in an Oct. 17 virtual meeting with many senior FCC staff. 

Mobile phone customers, the company added, "risk losing access to the benefits of free or heavily subsidized handsets because the proposal would force providers to reduce the line-up of their most compelling handset offers." 

Doing the math, T-Mobile, which is led by CEO Mike Sievert, said its prepaid customers would see subsidies "reduced by 40% to 70% for both its lower and higher-end devices, such as the Moto G, Samsung A15, and iPhone 12." 

Rosenworcel's plan would likely mean limiting “handset offers to lower cost and often lesser performing handsets," said T-Mobile, which in ads and promotional material refers to itself as the “Un-carrier.”

Under Rosenworcel's plan, consumers could take their phones to any wireless carrier and sign up for a new service plan, even money were still owned on their devices.

Rosenworcel’s plan, proposed on July 18, was intended to increase consumer and competition among wireless service providers.

“Some [providers] have recently increased the time their customers must wait until they can unlock their device by as much as 100 percent,” said Rosenworcel in a July statement. “We can put in place a nationwide standard because it is in the best interest of consumers and competition.”