Ecuador Orders Operators to Unlock Mobile Phones
Ecuador's telecoms supervisory body Suptel has reminded the country's mobile operators that handsets must be sold in an unlocked state, Suptel said in a statement.
The requirement is stipulated in a resolution issued by local telecoms regulator Conatel in 2005 to ensure that handsets can be activated by any of the companies operating in the country.
Operators are also obligated to unlock handsets that a user may have bought elsewhere, as long as the device is listed on Suptel's register of approved devices. For devices not on the list users can take them to Suptel to be unlocked.
Ecuador's mobile operators are Porta, a unit of Mexican giant America Movil, Movistar Ecuador, of Spanish group Telefonica, and locally owned Alegro PCS.
At the end of July the country had 9.37mn subscribers.
Posted to the site on 15th October 2007
