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Verizon has made a move to keep phones locked to its network for more than 60 days.
In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the carrier has requested the agency to waive off the Unlocking Rule due to the “growing harms to consumers, competition, and Verizon from this obligation — and the lack of offsetting benefits.”
When Verizon licensed the 700MHz spectrum in 2008, and again when it acquired Tracfone in 2020, it agreed to an Unlocking Rule that allowed users to switch to any network after purchasing a handset. That changed in 2019, when the FCC permitted Verizon to lock devices for 60 days, following the carrier’s argument that the delay would help combat fraud and identity theft.
Now, the company argues that a 60-day lock-in period is insufficient for any player in the telecom industry to prevent device fraud. The short timeframe has instead facilitated the trafficking of unlocked devices to foreign markets, it says.
“These bad actors target and harm American consumers and US carriers like Verizon for their own profit, by diverting unlocked trafficked devices to consumers in foreign countries,” Verizon says. “The Unlocking Rule is therefore contrary to the public interest.”
The carrier also claims that the Unlocking Rule it originally agreed to is outdated since it was introduced in the early days of wireless broadband and smartphones as an agency experiment to address concerns around net neutrality and open access.
Additionally, Verizon says that the 60-day rule for both prepaid and postpaid devices puts it at a competitive disadvantage, with AT&T locking prepaid devices for six months, and T-Mobile locking them for 12 months. Both competitors also require postpaid customers to pay in full to unlock the device.
“Waiving this rule will benefit consumers because it will allow Verizon to continue offering subsidies and other mechanisms to make phones more affordable, lower upfront costs, and enable customers to obtain the latest and most innovative devices,” Verizon says.
During President Biden’s term, the FCC considered enforcing a rule that would let customers unlock all carrier-sold phones within 60 days of activation. AT&T and T-Mobile pushed back on that, arguing that it would lead to fewer phone deals. They also question whether the FCC has the authority to create such a rule in the first place.
Now that the FCC is headed by a Trump appointee, Brendan Carr, Verizon is capitalizing on his call to review all FCC rules to alleviate "unnecessary regulatory burdens," by arguing that the unlock rule needs to go, Ars Technica notes.