there is nearly a 100% chance that the handsets obtained on pay as you go from these third party reselers are unlocked, especially since none of the major networks have announced it. Do you really think Vodafone or tmobile or O2 or any of these guys will take the time and the money asking Nokia for branded handsets and then not even sell it using their own channels. When they say pay as you go on a handset such as this one is simply the fact that these third party resellers have a tie up with the network wherin they promise to sell a handset with a network sim card for which the network might give them a percentage based subsidy. The network wins as it shows one more customer on its charts, the reseller wins because they just made a decent profit and you win because well you are happy that you saved 40 to 50 £'s.