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Network Freedom Act will let you unlock mobile devices upon end of contract

The Senate Subcommittee on the Network Freedom Act chaired by Senator Win Gatchalian has begun the process of ironing out the details of Senate Bill 1643 which lets subscribers unlock their mobile devices upon the end of their contract.

The S.B. 1643, also known as the Network Freedom Act, was filed in January 2018. It aims to promote consumer protection and foster competition in the telecommunications industry by prohibiting the locking of mobile wireless devices to a public telecommunications entity.

Under section 4 of the bill, a public telecommunications entity shall be prohibited from locking a mobile wireless device to its network, whether such devices are sold as a unit or issued under a mobile communications service contract. The new version of the bill also provides that subscribers be fully informed of the unlocking process, with the terms stipulated in writing under the mobile communications service contract.

Representatives from Globe and Smart who participated in the committee’s Technical Working Group (TWG) meeting said the time period varies per device manufacturer, but agreed that telcos must automatically unlock devices within 24 hours upon completion of the service contract or upon full payment of the device should a subscriber wish to pre-terminate his contract.
The group also clarified that unlocking will be done by the telcos free of charge and will not void the warranties provided by the manufacturers.

source: Senate.gov.ph

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This article was written by Louie Diangson, Managing Editor of YugaTech. You can follow him at @John_Louie.

5 Responses

  1. Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

    NOT YET IMPLEMENTED

    It said on the SB that, it shall be active after 15 days of being posted into the Philippines’ Official Gazette, or after 2 public postings into a Newspaper. Seems there are pieces of shit blocking this bill to be implemented.

  2. Avatar for tobi tobi says:

    as stated above, it is still ironing out the details of Senate Bill 1643

  3. Avatar for asdfaeraw asdfaeraw says:

    i had my globe samsung note 5 duos unlocked last May 10, 2018 since it’s already out of contract….after a few days, i received a text from globe with the instructions and unlock code. BUT, on the very last part of the text, nakalagay “PLEASE NOTE THAT NON-GLOBE SIM CARDS CAN USE CALLS AND TEXTS ONLY”

    could you please verify if Globe/Smart are now ordered to fully unlock the phone’s features including data access of the phone? I sold my phone to my relative before so i only forwarded the instructions and code to her. I haven’t verified with her if only SMS/Calls are only unlocked since she lives in a different city.

  4. Avatar for el gato el gato says:

    good news…. it is about time…

  5. Avatar for juay juay says:

    implemented na ba tong bill?

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