WASHINGTON, Aug. 3, 2026 – Five Republican senators want the Federal Communications Commission to adopt a phone unlocking requirement. In 2024 the FCC sought comment on requiring mobile carriers to make phones usable on other networks after 60 days. Britt and her colleagues said the agency should adopt a 180-day unlocking mandate. The carriers have opposed an unlocking mandate on the grounds that it would make handset fraud much easier. That would make the auction unappealing, he wrote, even as a means of driving up prices in retaliation for carriers’ MVNO refusal.