Verizon Doesn’t Have to Unlock Devices

Verizon has secured a major victory at the FCC, as the WTB officially granted the carrier’s request to waive the 60-day handset unlocking requirement. While Verizon celebrates what it calls a blow to international criminal gangs, consumer advocates are sounding the alarm, calling the move “profoundly anti-consumer.”

The 60-day rule, which dates back to Verizon’s 2007 acquisition of 700 MHz spectrum and was later applied to its TracFone acquisition in 2021, made Verizon the only carrier required to unlock devices so quickly. Verizon argued that this mandate turned its handsets into a primary target for traffickers, claiming it lost nearly 785,000 devices to fraud in 2023 alone.

However, the decision has drawn sharp criticism from groups like Public Knowledge and the Open Technology Institute.

“There are ways to combat theft and fraud that do not require locking consumers and their handsets to particular carriers with digital locks. A ‘more uniform’ approach to the issue of handset unlocking would have been to make handset unlocking easier and faster across all carriers – not locking it down,” said Public Knowledge Legal Director John Bergmayer.

Michael Calabrese of New America’s Open Technology Institute told Fierce Wireless that the decision was “profoundly anti-consumer”

“Since the FCC can increase the 60-day waiting period, it is false to claim that allowing mobile carriers to lock phones indefinitely has anything to do with reducing phone theft and crime. Both Canada and the UK require unlocking and a consumer’s choice to more easily switch among mobile providers, and neither has reported a surge in smartphone theft. 

The timing is particularly notable as the FCC still has a pending proposal from 2024 that would require all carriers to unlock phones within 60 days. The WTB noted that Verizon’s waiver will remain in place until the commission decides on a final industry-wide approach. In the interim, Verizon will follow CTIA unlocking standards.

Cable industry representatives also weighed in, pushing for a uniform 180-day unlocking policy. The NCTA stated that while unlocked phones offer clear consumer benefits, the FCC must find a “common-sense approach” that balances those benefits with legitimate fraud concerns.

For now, Verizon has successfully leveled the playing field against competitors like AT&T and T-Mobile. With Verizon’s postpaid churn rising in recent years, keeping devices locked longer may provide the carrier some much-needed breathing room, even as the broader debate over consumer freedom continues.