Verizon also said that after it bought TracFone, there was “a sharp increase in the number of TracFone devices that deactivated before making enough payments for Verizon to recover the subsidy on the device.”
Verizon: Do it for DOGE
With FCC Republicans backing DOGE-style changes, Verizon name-dropped Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency in its petition. The unlocking rule is “the perfect example of the type of rule that the Commission should eliminate as part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s Deregulatory Initiative,” Verizon said.
During Trump’s first term, the FCC granted Verizon a partial waiver allowing it to lock phones for 60 days to fight fraud. Verizon claims 60 days isn’t enough, and it wants to lock phones for at least six months.
“Recent industry experience shows that even a lock of 60 days does not deter device fraud—a huge and growing problem in the United States—and instead enables trafficking in devices that are illicitly sent to foreign marketplaces. This is why the industry standard for providers not subject to the Unlocking Rule is a minimum of 6 months or longer,” Verizon’s petition said.
Verizon said the FCC spectrum rules it agreed to in 2008 were based on concerns related to net neutrality and open access that are no longer relevant.
“The concerns about the nascent wireless broadband and smartphone marketplace that animated the adoption of that rule—such as new iPhones being designed to work exclusively on one provider’s network or restrictive ‘walled gardens’ for applications—no longer apply today,” Verizon said. “It is past time for the Commission’s experiment with the Unlocking Rule to end, because today’s wireless marketplace bears little resemblance to the one that existed when the rule was adopted, and the rule harms consumers, competition, and Verizon.”
