Public Interest Groups and EchoStar Urge Unlocking Rules, Spectrum Screen
Representatives of EchoStar, Public Knowledge and the Open Technology Institute at New America asked the FCC to move forward on handset unlocking rules, approve the use of the lower 12 GHz band for fixed wireless and address a revised spectrum…
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screen. The representatives met with aides to Commissioners Anna Gomez and Geoffrey Starks, said a filing posted Friday in 24-186 and other dockets. “Consumer advocates have long argued that mobile phones should come unlocked by default, allowing users to more easily make choices about the device and service they purchase, as they can for most products,” the filing said: “While the practice of locking users into contracts by handset locking remains common in the U.S., countries including Canada and the United Kingdom have banned the practice entirely.” Most spectrum “is controlled by three nationwide incumbents, leaving new competitors and regional carriers constrained in their ability to provide wireless services,” the groups said of a proposed revised screen. The level of concentration “hampers innovation, raises prices, raises costs for non-incumbent competitors, and harms consumers.”