Telus is asking the CRTC to immediately approve a temporary 60-day lock on newly financed smartphones, arguing that the current ban on locked devices has handed organized crime an easy payday at the expense of retail staff and customers.
The carrier laid out its case in a reply filed August 4, describing a crisis of violent store robberies, subscription fraud and identity theft that it says existing security measures cannot keep up with. Telus told the Commission its own retail and digital defences “remain insufficient because the bad actors constantly adapt and find workarounds.”
Every other major carrier lined up behind it, says Telus. Rival Bell, which brought in its own 60-day lock in 2025 and caught a CRTC non-compliance direction for it that November, described a high number of robberies at its stores involving “the use of force, threats or intimidation directed at Bell employees,” often with firearms. Five months in, Bell says the practice “had already demonstrably reduced robbery and fraud,” worth tens of millions in savings and a big drop in account takeover attempts.
Rogers and Videotron reported millions in losses from theft and what Rogers called “significant levels of fraudulent activity.” The Canadian Telecommunications Association, whose members include Bell, Cogeco, Eastlink, Rogers, SaskTel and Videotron (Telus is not a member), said industry safeguards are “not sufficient on their own to address the evolving techniques employed by fraudsters.”
Consumer groups pushed back, and a good chunk of the filing is Telus answering them, according to the filing received by iPhone in Canada. Here’s what the proposal would actually mean if you’re buying a phone.
Devices unlock automatically at 60 days, free, with nothing required from you, so long as the account isn’t flagged for fraud or the phone reported stolen. Billing disputes, arrears and payment processing hiccups won’t hold it up. Need out sooner to switch carriers, travel or pay off the balance? Early unlocking is free at any time and only involves the same identity check you’d get for any account change. Telus also says flat out it won’t require biometric verification, and that a locked phone still reaches 911 and emergency fallback networks during an outage.
Now here’s the part about timing that everyone should know about. Telus says it intends to start locking devices in October of this year, which is not conditional on the CRTC approving it first (just like what Bell is doing). The CRTC’s review of the Wireless Code, where the permanent version of this question gets decided, holds a hearing November 30 and may not produce a final answer until 2028. Telus is asking for market-wide interim approval to cover the gap.
Comments on the permanent proposal are due August 11, 2026 (tomorrow).
We previously had reached out to Telus to seek clarification on its phone locking date, which was set for the end of July. But a Telus spokesperson clarified to iPhone in Canada on Monday of its new plan to start locking phones in October of this year.
If you don’t want to deal with the locked phone process from Telus and Bell, options include buying your iPhone outright from Apple.ca, which also includes financing plans if you need it.
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