Starting Monday January 16 2012, Chile requires that all phones sold must be sold unlocked. This applies to every cellphone. This requirement will mean that any cellphone will work on any compatible network in the country.
By making this requirement official, Chile is essentially letting users keep hold of their phone number easier rather than pulling out of contracts and getting a new number with a new contract.
The requirement also extends to devices that have been sold before the 16th January this year. Basically, any cellphone must be unlocked free of charge and can be done through a service that Subtel (the Chile mobile regulator) offers.
Most of the world doesn’t have any locking laws in place. When buying a phone it is often locked to a specific network although in some countries the carriers will unlock a device for free at the end of a contract. By banning locking in Chile, it will in some cases, prevent the need to jailbreak or root a device for the purpose of unlocking it.
Although I can’t see this going worldwide any time soon, I think most people (other than the carriers themselves) will like the day when locking is banned.
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