Operators say phone number ownership to change little for clients

MOSCOW, Jun 26 (PRIME) -- A transfer of a mobile number into ownership of a Russian citizen would change little for subscribers as the active law and rules of provision of connection services allow people to keep numbers as long as they want without using them, officials of the country’s top mobile operators told PRIME on Friday.

Political party A Just Russia’s deputies Dmitry Ionin and Fedot Tumusov submitted a bill to the State Duma, the parliament’s lower house, to entrench the ownership right of people for phone numbers up to bequeathing them.

A MegaFon spokesperson said that the existing rules allow people to keep phone numbers even if they are out of use for a long period. Subscribers can also keep their phone number when switching operators.

“Any other options of use of the number will contradict the current requirements of the industry law, because the numbering capacity belongs to the government and is allocated to operators exclusively to provide connection services,” the spokesperson said.

An MTS spokesperson said clients can keep numbers as long as they make a pay action once every six months. “It is done so that the number remains active and the operator sees that the subscriber uses it,” the spokesperson said.

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