9/9 Joint Comments Urging FCC to Require That All Providers Automatically Unlock Handsets Within 60 Days, Regardless of Device Payment Status

The Open Technology Institute at New America, Public Knowledge, and Consumer Reports filed joint comments at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding a July 2024 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), in which the FCC proposes requiring “all mobile wireless service providers to unlock handsets 60 days after a consumer’s handset is activated with the provider, unless within the 60-day period the service provider determines the handset was purchased through fraud.” We also signed onto a public interest letter to the Commission in support of the proposal.

Our groups support the FCC’s proposed handset unlocking requirement. As the agency finalizes these rules, we further call on it to:

• Refrain from extending the wait period between when a handset is activated and when it is unlocked beyond 60 days.
• Include a condition stipulating that mobile wireless service providers must unlock handsets automatically after the 60-day wait period.
• Continue to ensure that these handset unlocking requirements will apply to all mobile wireless service providers equally.
• Specify that mobile wireless service providers must abide by these handset unlocking requirements regardless of device payment status.

Additionally, as the FCC considers the viewpoints and suggestions of other commenters, we ask the agency to factor in:

• Diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility (DEIA) principles — e.g., how requiring handset unlocking regardless of device payment status can mitigate the disproportionate impact that device locking has on consumers from low-income communities and populations of color.
• Sustainability and environmental considerations — e.g., how requiring automatic handset unlocking can extend the life of phones, making it easier for them to be sold and reused, thus reducing the growing problem of “e-waste.”