Unlock varizon iphone 4s outside US (Thailand)

Question

I am in Thailand now. A friend of mine just received an Iphone 4s from his relative living in US. The phone is locked or not activated. I already restored the phone to IOS 6.1.3. However, we still need to activate the phone. When I look at the sim card, I see that the previous owner have used Varizon network because the sim is Varizon sim. I aware that the phone is locked because it is restricted by the contract. Until the contract is over, we cannot change our mobile carrier. Therefore, we asked the previous owner to clear their contract with the carrier and they did it already. They already clear the bill. It's mean the phone is free and can be officially activated with other sim in other country.
My frined is living in Thailand therefore he want to use Thailand mobile network. But the problem is we do not know how to do it. Should we contact Varizon again or apple? Who is responsible for unlocking the Iphone? We are confuseing with that. Since we have already clear the bill, it's mean the contract is over and the Varizon should let the phone free, right? Therefore, we need your advice. Please give us instruction, and any contact information that might be helpful for us to activate the iphone.
We already went to the phone shop and they said we need R Sim. I don't know whether that sim will really work or not. Therefore, please give us your advice. If you need more information such as serial number, phone number, I can provide that too. Thank you!
<Email Edited by Host>

Answer 1

The process is contact your network supplier .
Ask IF they offer unlocking.
IF yes request the unlock and pay any fees requested.
Your network supplier then contacts Apple to request the White listing (Unlocking) of your phone on the iTunes servers.
Apple do this -It takes anything from 3 days to several weeks to complete.
On completion Apple confirms this back to your Network supplier (NOT YOU)
Your network supplier contacts you via email or SMS inviting you to connect your iPhone with your computer via the supplied USB cable and launch iTunes and follow on screen prompts through to the "Congratulations your iPhone is now unlocked" screen.
All these steps need to be carried out with the ORIGINAL SIM and by REGISTERED account holder used when setting up the phone.
Once the Congats...... screen has been reached you can swap out the REGISTERED SIM and replace with a compatable SIM on another network.
CAVEATS
All above steps must be completed whilst directly connected to the registered network and can not be done when roaming -The mobile operator WILL check this using identifiers and mast triangulation.
Only the original SIM and Account holder can initiate an unlock- If you bought the phone used/second hand you CAN NOT UNLOCK through official routes
Once unlocked use of a Mobile Virtual Network SIM may result in difficulties sending SMS messages.
You may have to go into Setting /Network/Cellular/Cellular Data Network and enter the correct settings manually.