PCCW in court bid to end Apple phone locking

Hong Kong Telecommunications is seeking a judicial review of the regulator's handling of Apple's phone locking policy.

The operator of PCCW says the iPhone 5 cannot connect to its fourth-generation wireless network, but can connect to those of its rivals in the city. Users are restricted to PCCW's slower 3G network.

HKT complained that the Communications Authority refused to investigate its complaint that this breached competition rules. If the judicial review is granted, it would be the first legal challenge relating to Apple's locking practices in Hong Kong.

HKT says it has lost "hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars" as a result of Apple's SIM-locking practice over sales of its iPhone5, iPad and iPad mini, High Court filings show.

Apple has locked its products in many countries - restricting subscribers by programming phones so SIM cards only work with certain networks - since the release of the first iPhone in 2007.

Initially the iPhone 5, which hit the market last September, could only be connected to SmarTone's 4G network. This was later extended to Hutchison and CSL's 4G networks, still to the exclusion of HKT. But the once-locked iPads can now connect to PCCW's 4G network.