With the release of the iPhone 3GS on Orange yesterday, we imagine that there are a few of you out there that like the idea of the iPhone on Orange, but faced the prospect of having to sell your perfectly good O2 iPhone due to it being locked and having to buy a shiny, new one from Orange.

Well fear not, O2 have said that, for a small fee of course, customers at the end of their contract can unlock the device to work on any network. How “small” is a small fee? well, it is reported that it will cost 15 of your hard earned pounds, or £14.97 to be precise. iPhone Pay & Go customers who have had their iPhone for more than 12 months are entitled to unlock their devices too.

The report comes via The Times who were speaking to Matthew Key, Chairman and CEO of Telefonica Europe (O2’s parent company). In answer to the question: “Is there any truth in the rumour that after Orange and Vodafone are able to sell the iPhone you will not allow people to unlock their iPhone, even if they are out of their contract period?” Key replies:

“There is absolutely no truth in that rumour. Once the iPhone becomes available on other UK networks, we will allow O2 customers to unlock their iPhones, although of course they will still need to honour any outstanding contract period they have. At the end of their contract period, they are entirely free to move to another operator – though naturally we hope they won’t want to!”

Excerpt from:
O2 to allow iPhone unlocking