{"id":24855,"date":"2024-02-10T02:18:22","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T23:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/24855\/fcc-asked-to-add-a\/"},"modified":"2024-02-10T02:18:23","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T23:18:23","slug":"fcc-asked-to-add-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/?p=24855","title":{"rendered":"FCC asked to add a special phone unlocking condition to approval of the T-Mobile-Mint deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

FCC asked to add a special phone unlocking condition to approval of the T-Mobile-Mint deal\u060c<\/p>\n

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By Fierce Wireless<\/a>four consumer advocacy groups, Consumer Reports, Public Knowledge, Benton Institute and New America's Open Technology Institute, want the FCC to impose a special phone unlocking condition on T Mobile<\/span>the planned acquisition of Mint Mobile by . Similar to a condition agreed to before Verizon purchased TracFone in 2021, these consumer groups want T-Mobile to agree to unlock all devices 60 days after they are activated on its network. <\/div>\n
Consumer groups say that for devices that don't automatically unlock after 60 days, customers should be allowed to manually unlock their devices 60 days after activation on the site. T Mobile<\/span> network. At that time, the wireless carrier should provide its customers with “clear and easy-to-follow” instructions on how to manually unlock their phone. The groups want this condition to come into force within 30 days of the T Mobile<\/span> the acquisition of Mint and its affiliated brands has been completed.<\/div>\n
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Consumer advocates want a condition added to the FCC's approval of T-Mobile's acquisition of Mint Mobile.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Advocacy groups have long insisted that all smartphones are unlocked by default, making it easier for consumers to switch carriers. Carrier-locked phones, especially those tied to a prepaid account, can impact low-income customers because they might not be able to afford a new phone if they want to switch to a new provider wireless services. As for postpaid accounts, T Mobile<\/span> says it meets release requirements tied to the Justice Department's final judgment in the deal that saw T Mobile<\/span> buy Sprint.<\/p>\n

Based on this final judgment, T Mobile<\/span> is required to unlock devices running on a postpaid account only after a customer has completed the postpaid service contract term or completed the financing plan for that particular device, or paid an early termination fee. As consumer advocates have pointed out in a letter to the FCC<\/a>\u201cThe time to meet these criteria can be more than a year.\u201d Remember, these groups want phones activated on the T Mobile<\/span> network to be unlocked after 60 days.<\/div>\n
T Mobile<\/span> has agreed with Ka'ena Corporation to acquire Mint Mobile and its affiliated brands, Ultra Mobile and Plum, for up to $1.35 billion. The companies are still waiting for regulatory approval so the deal can go through. When finally finished, T Mobile<\/span> said all acquired brands will be managed as separate subsidiaries under T Mobile<\/span> WE. Actor Ryan Reynolds, who owns a minority stake in Mint Mobile, will “remain the champion of the Mint brand” according to T Mobile<\/span>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FCC asked to add a special phone unlocking condition to approval of the T-Mobile-Mint deal\u060c By Fierce Wirelessfour consumer advocacy groups, Consumer Reports, Public Knowledge, Benton Institute and New America's Open Technology Institute, want the FCC to impose a special phone unlocking condition on T Mobilethe planned acquisition of Mint Mobile by . Similar to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2964,4448,1380,713,442,6047,398,1930,10503,10502],"class_list":["post-24855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-add","tag-approval","tag-asked","tag-condition","tag-deal","tag-fcc","tag-phone","tag-special","tag-tmobilemint","tag-unlocking"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24855"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24857,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24855\/revisions\/24857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}