(daily_creativity via Shutterstock)
A new effort to require US carriers to unlock their phones is emerging with SpaceX surprisingly backing the effort.
Last Thursday, the company joined three other industry groups, including the Rural Wireless Association, in calling the Federal Communications Commission to adopt a nationwide policy to automatically unlock phones tied to a carrier’s network 180 days after activation.
“Automatic mobile device unlocking is essential to protecting consumer choice, promoting competition, and lowering costs in the mobile marketplace,” the 3-page letter says. The other signees include the NTCA –The Rural Broadband Association and ACA Connects, which represents various networking providers.
The proposal arrives weeks after a trio of Republican Senators also sent a letter to the FCC pushing for "automatic phone unlocking after 180 days across all mobile carriers." It isn’t as ambitious as the 60-day phone unlocking policy that the previous FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel floated back in 2024 to help increase consumer choice and competition. But in the letter, SpaceX says: “Allowing a ‘lock period’ of 180 days gives providers enough time to protect against the significant fraud concerns identified by the FCC and to ensure mobile devices are not exploited for criminal acts. We urge the FCC to prioritize the needs of consumers and their families over large corporations’ abilities to thwart competition.”
SpaceX didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about what prompted the company to join the letter. But carrier-imposed phone locking has been known to block consumers from using secondary eSIMs on their device, forcing them to rely on the wireless plans from their official provider and related partners.
(PCMag)That’s a problem for Starlink Mobile, the satellite-to-phone service that SpaceX has been offering through T-Mobile as T-Satellite. A user on AT&T, Verizon or other wireless provider can sign up for Starlink Mobile, but they can only use it on an unlocked phone that supports the satellite connectivity, according T-Mobile’s requirements.
Hence, a nationwide phone unlocking policy could remove a roadblock preventing consumers from using Starlink Mobile, which T-Mobile says has been seeing lower than expected usage.
Starlink Mobile has also been raising eyebrows over speculation it might one day compete with traditional carriers. For now, the company has been pitching Starlink Mobile as a complementary service to carriers, giving them a way to beam connectivity to users in cellular dead zones, such as rural and remote areas. That said, SpaceX's own regulatory filing for its IPO mentions that Starlink Mobile will eventually serve users in suburban and urban areas.
Surprisingly, SpaceX’s letter takes a subtle shot at partner T-Mobile, saying, “Two providers lock prepaid customers’ handsets for 365 days, which is particularly egregious for those lower income customers who have fully paid for their device.” The letter then refers to the device unlocking policies from Verizon and T-Mobile.
The letter then argues that carrier-imposed phone locking “Discourages innovative service offerings,” and “Disadvantages new market entrants and alternative business models.”
In January, the FCC indicated it might set industry-wide rules for phone unlocking. However, companies including AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have defended their policies as a way to ensure customers don’t jump ship after receiving a major discount on a phone, which they subsidize.
“T-Mobile estimates that its prepaid customers, for example, 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,” the carrier told the FCC back in 2024. “A handset unlocking mandate would also leave providers little choice but to limit their handset offers to lower cost and often lesser performing handsets.”
The carriers have also questioned if the Commission even has the legal authority to mandate a phone unlocking policy.