Verizon: Handset Unlocking Rules Need to be Uniform

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8, 2024 – Verizon, a major wireless service provider, is stressing the need for uniformity in mobile handset unlocking rules in order to avoid consumer confusion and promote competition.

“Consumers should not have to navigate an array of unlocking policies and procedures that vary among providers,” Verizon’s Senior Managing Associate General Counsel Tamara Preiss said in a Wednesday filing with the Federal Communications Commission. “The ad-hoc, asymmetric locking policies that currently apply to some providers and not others result in an uneven playing field, reducing wireless competition and ultimately harming consumers.”

In response to proposed handset unlocking mandates by the FCC, Verizon asserted that the uniform requirement would allow all wireless providers sufficient time to limit fraud and enable device subsidies while avoiding customer confusion.

Verizon noted that an absolute minimum standard of a 60-day locking requirement for postpaid phones is necessary to combat theft and fraud, but that a 180-day locking period for prepaid phones would allow providers to offer subsidies on devices for low-income consumers.

The company also cited the ever changing environment of fraud, requesting that the FCC grant providers flexibility in determining whether devices were procured fraudulently rather than enforcing strict guidelines as to what fraud looks like.

Despite Verizon’s request, changes might not be seen until after Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025 due to a request by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers that the FCC avoid controversial rulemakings until Trump’s administration takes over. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr echoed that request in a Wednesday post on X.