MOSCOW, August 6 – RAPSI. The Consumer Rights Protection Society has demanded that Russia’s largest mobile providers, MTS, Megafon and Vimpelcom, revise their tariffs for subscribers with direct Moscow numbers, according to a press release by the society which the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) received on Monday.

According to the press release, the demand arose from changes in the rules on dialing telephone numbers introduced by an order of the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media. As a result of the changes, people were no longer able to dial seven-digit numbers from landlines.

The advocacy group believes that the opportunity to dial in short numbers is a main consumer feature of direct numbers, and that moreover the cost of the direct numbers with all the operators is much higher than for ordinary numbers.

According to the advocacy group, this situation creates inequality among consumers who have to pay different prices for the same service, which is prohibited by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

In connection with this, the society has submitted to Vimpelcom, Megafon and MTS a pre-trial claim with a requirement to revise their tariffs for subscribers with direct numbers. If they refuse the society reserves the right to refer the matter to the court, the press release says.

RAPSI has yet to obtain comments from the companies.