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AMERICANS may soon be getting more choice in the handsets they can use to access various mobile internet services.

Until now, cellphone networks in the US have dictated which devices their customers can use and which applications they can download. Apple’s iPhone, for instance, only works with AT&T’s 2G network. This may change when the Federal Communications Commission reveals its plans this week for abandoned analogue TV frequencies for new wireless services. The FCC says it may end the telcos’ lucrative habit of locking devices to networks.

Google is for any phone to be able to access any wireless network and download any software. As New Å®ÉúСÊÓƵ went to press, the phone networks were lobbying against that effort.