UK telecoms regulator plans to ban sale of locked mobile phones

Genuinely shocked that this is still a thing in the UK, I thought phones had been unlocked for years now but apparently that's not the case. I may be insulated from this, as over the past 6 years I've been an iPhone user and bought them all directly from Apple who sell them unlocked in the UK.

Prior to that, my Android phone was bought from the network it was on and locked to. Before going with Android, I had a Nokia flip phone which came unlocked but that was from a store that offered it directly from the manufacturer and bundled it with a deal from a network.

Given the EU's track record on making usage across the continent cheaper for consumers, I'm surprised this isn't something they'd sorted out already.