The newly seated chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has told mobile operators to voluntarily ease up on cellphone unlocking or risk being forced to do so.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler sent a letter on Thursday to Steve Largent, president and CEO of the mobile industry group CTIA, that called on the group to agree to several reforms around cellphone unlocking. The letter follows eight months of talks between the FCC and CTIA over a proposed amendment to the CTIA's Consumer Code, Wheeler wrote.
The FCC wants carriers to make it easier for mobile subscribers to get their phones unlocked once they've fulfilled their carrier contracts. Unlocking can allow a user to switch carriers without buying a new phone and committing to another long-term contract.
The only sticking point in the talks is over whether carriers should tell their subscribers when their devices are eligible for unlocking, Wheeler wrote.
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