Ancom - Deblocarea telefoanelor codate

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Terminal unlocking

If the telephone handset purchased along with the telephony service is locked to the network, this must be specified in your contract. Moreover, you should also check your contract for information regarding the possibility and the terms for terminal unlocking.

On the other hand, the minimum standard conditions for the terminals locked to mobile telecommunications networks are established by a Code of conduct, adopted by the main mobile telephony providers in Romania.

According to this Code of Conduct,

You may ask for terminal unlocking upon purchase or at any time afterwards, based on the fiscal invoice or on the warranty certificate.
If you buy exclusively the terminal, without any electronic communications services, your operator will unlock the purchased terminal free of change.
If you have obtained your terminal following a promotional offer or at a special price, and you want to unlock it before the expiry of the minimum period provided in the contract concluded with your operator, you will have to pay both the tariff charged for the unlocking service, and the penalty fee established for the early contract termination.
If the minimum contract period expired, you pay only the unlocking fee. Warning! The unlocking fee is established by each operator.
The unlocking is performed within 15 working days from the registration date of your request.
The operators will unlock exclusively the terminals that have not exceeded the average usage term specified by the producer in the warranty certificate. Older terminals will be unlocked only to the extent to which the operators have the necessary technical resources.

About what, how and where you can complain

If the terminal you bought along with the telephony service is locked to the network, and you have no specification regarding this issue in your contract, ANCOM can take steps. Find out how you can submit a complaint. Check the section Complain to ANCOM!

If your provider has breached the unlocking terms provided in the contract, you may address the National Authority for Consumers Protection.

In this situation, ANCOM can provide counselling and mediation, but cannot sanction the provider.

Although the mobile operators adopted the Code of Conduct, this document does not stand as legally binding. Therefore, ANCOM cannot sanction a provider for breaching its provisions.