Activists propose banning telecom operators from taking away numbers from subscribers

But only in cases where the numbers are linked to State Services

Voting to prohibit mobile operators from taking away telephone numbers from subscribers if they are linked to a personal account on the State Services portal or to the Fast Payment System (FPS) began on the Russian Public Initiative (ROI) portal. This will not only relieve citizens from the discomfort associated with the inability to use many useful services, but will also protect them from scammers.

In accordance with the current legislation in Russia, today telecom operators have the right to confiscate telephone numbers if there is no paid activity on them for three months. The developers of the initiative emphasize that today the loss of a phone number is a direct threat to a citizen’s life.

Since the adoption of the relevant law, people’s telecommunications capabilities have changed greatly; more and more services are available from mobile communication devices, and authorization in many of them occurs precisely by phone number. When registering for a SIM card, the person’s personal data is indicated, and the services verify the person trying to log in using his phone number. At the same time, many today use two or more phones, one for communication, the other just for using services.

The authors note that the loss of a phone number means the loss of a person’s rights, at least on the State Services portal, and often the ability to access bank accounts, money transfers, and receive important information from the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

The most vulnerable are pensioners who have been undergoing treatment for a long time, as well as military personnel on active duty. Most often, it is these categories of citizens who use tariffs without a subscription fee and are therefore at risk.

With the adoption of the initiative, citizens will have confidence that fraudsters will not be able to use the number seized by the operator to replace their identity, as a result of which the potential of their criminal activities will expand, and strangers will not be able to access the personal data of a citizen deprived of the number. The state will have an up-to-date database of numbers that can be used to inform citizens with confidence that the telephone number has not lost its relevance.

In order for a normative legal act to be developed on the basis of the initiative, it is necessary that at least 100 thousand citizens vote for it within a year after its publication.