Why? The whole point of GSM is that carrier and phone can (and should) be entirely disconnected, decoupled and only connected through the means of whatever SIM the user puts in his phone.

The notion that a carrier needs to be involved in the making of a phone makes about as much sense as if my ISP needed to test and "approve" what Ethernet hardware I use at home.

It's frankly none of their business.

> This problem is made worse on Verizon and Sprint which use CDMA

So don't use them, just like you wouldn't use an ISP which doesn't speak IP.