MOSCOW, December 19 (Itar-Tass) - The Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian Federal Assembly, on Wednesday passed a bill cancelling so-called mobile slavery. The document will now be submitted to the Russian president.
As of December 2013, Russian citizens will have a chance to preserve their mobile telephone numbers when the change cell operators on application. The service may be free on agreement from a cell phone operator or cost no more than a hundred rubles.
About three million Russians are expected to use the service annually.
At present, a similar system is already operating in 70 countries.