How to unlock a network-locked smartphone in South Africa
South Africans who have bought a network-locked smartphone can unlock their device in different ways, depending on the mobile operator.
Many consumers still have the mistaken impression that network-locking is prohibited in South Africa.
This is because industry regulator Icasa had proposed handset subsidy regulations in 2009 that would have disallowed the practice.
However, it withdrew the draft regulations in 2011 following a legal challenge due to “procedural irregularity”.
“Locking devices to the network is an industry practice due to device subsidies by mobile operators that enable customers to pay less for their devices,” Cell C chief operation officer Andre Ittmann told MyBroadband.
MTN executive for corporate affairs Jacqui O’Sullivan agreed, saying the objective of locking a device into their network is to lower its price.
Vodacom said network-locking is part of the operator’s strategy to migrate consumers from older networking technologies to 4G.
“Vodacom invests heavily in various subsidies to accelerate and encourage the migration from 2G and 3G to 4G.”
“In order to recoup the costs of these subsidies, we typically lock a device for a certain period of time.”
“This allows Vodacom to sell devices at below-cost prices, promote wider digital inclusion amongst our subscribers and ultimately make our customers happier.”
Vodacom reinstituted selling network-locked smartphones in October 2019.
Vodacom business unit chief officer Jorge Mendes said that before this, there was a “gentleman’s agreement” between the mobile operators to shun the practice.
Despite most smartphones under R500 not having any 4G capability, South Africa’s mobile networks have previously indicated that they would like to shut down their 2G and 3G networks.
To help phase out the country’s 2G and 3G networks by 2025, Communications minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni recently announced that South Africa will ban the importation and distribution of 2G devices by end-February 2023.
While Vodacom has been pushing sales of 4G devices for less than R1,000, switching to 3G and 4G too quickly would leave many South Africans disconnected.
Andre Ittmann, Cell C chief operations officer
Cell C’s Ittmann said that network locking is device-dependent.
“Some devices have a lock on both SIM slots and others only the primary SIM slot is locked allowing the customer to use any other network provider for the secondary SIM.”
He said the open slots on network-locked dual SIM devices could be limited in functionality depending on the device.
“However, open SIM slots are also device dependent with or without limitations — which include limiting 2G services on other service providers.”
Vodacom said it network locks single SIM and dual SIM devices, with one slot open and the other locked to their network.
To unlock a device on Vodacom’s network, a customer must wait 12 months before calling 082 135 for the unlocking codes at a fixed fee.
Similarly, MTN said its customers could unlock a device 12 months after activation by selecting the USSD option on *135# and contacting the call centre.
Cell C’s device unlocking requires a certain airtime balance depending on the smartphone brand and price bracket.
When requesting a network unlock code (NUC), Cell C customers must have a non-Cell C SIM on hand.
The airtime balance required for a network unlock depending on the device’s price bracket is as follows:
- For devices priced at R799 and under — R75
- For devices priced at R800 and above — R150
If a device doesn’t have a price for some reason, the airtime balance required is R150.
The client must then call 084 135 to request a network unlock, after which a call centre agent will deduct the required airtime amount from their balance.
Following this, the customer will receive an SMS with the NUC on the Cell C number, which they must note before replacing the SIM.
When turning on the device, they will be prompted to enter the NUC to proceed.
If consumers have a Samsung device, they can skip the whole rigmarole of noting down the NUC and proceed straight to replacing the Cell C SIM with a card from another operator.
After this, Samsung owners must ensure it has an Internet connection via Wi-Fi or mobile data so that the call centre agent can unlock it remotely.
We contacted Telkom to ask about their unlocking procedures, but it did not respond by the time of publication.
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