It’s hip2b2

Here is an article from Networkworld, reporting that the US Copyright Office has declared SIM-locking phones illegal in the US. Yes guys. You heard me loud and clear. SIM-locking phones is now illegal in the US.

Late last month the U.S. Copyright Office issued rules that address this second situation. Carriers, for at least the next three years, will no longer be allowed to “lock” your phone to prevent the device from being used on another carrier’s network.

Wireless services providers have reportedly used these software locks to keep customers, who were under contract, on their network in an effort to recoup the cost of offering discounted handsets to new customers.

Is this a good or bad thing? How does this affect subscribers and operators?

• Subscribers can now freely use their acquired phones on different operator networks. This makes it easier to move from one operator to another.
• Operators will have a hard time recovering subsidized handsets. This is because they can’t lock subscribers to the phones during the contract period. They can still enforce contractual obligations, but, the phones can be used elsewhere already. In some cases, they are actually resold in secondary markets.

But what is the big fuss about this? Lots of people can unlock SIM-locked phones anyway using other channels. I feel if this where implemented in the Philippines then the only people who have a lot of loose are the SIM unlocking shops in Greenhills.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 8th, 2006 at 2:04 am and is filed under Mobile. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.