NTC to go after those who ‘unlock’ phones

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) recently released a new draft memorandum circular that is set to go after phone repair shops that are illegally unblocking mobile phones.

The draft states that mobile phone service centers would be required to secure a permit to be able to unblock mobile phones.

Under the proposed circular, all mobile phone service centers shall keep an inventory of all devices and equipment to be monitored by the NTC.

These service centers are also discouraged from keeping or repairing devices that are illegally acquired.

Violators have to pay a fine of P5,000 per unit and faces revocation of their business permits.

Unblocking of mobile phones, a common practice among most phone repair shops, is the removal of the security feature. This allows the user to use more than one SIM (subscriber identity module) card.

For this purpose, many stolen phones end up in many phone repair shops that are either sold as second-hand phones that have been "unlocked."

The draft was finalized after the NTC received numerous complaints from mobile phone users whose phones were stolen.

"It is a new measure against those illegally unblocking phones. There are thousands of mobile phone service centers in the country and it is time that they are discouraged from selling stolen phones," NTC Commissioner Ronald Solis said.

The NTC previously tried to curb phone unblocking by locking the five-digit International Mobile Equipment Identifier (IMEI) code of stolen phones reported to them. — Freeman News Service