Today in the territory of the Russian Federation there are several dozen different mobile operators. Moreover, if you know which phone number code belongs to each of them, they can be easily identified.
Telecom operators
In total, more than 100 companies of various sizes are currently the players in the telecommunications market in Russia. However, among them, the largest operators, which are usually called the "big three", stand out. It traditionally includes the companies "MTS", "Beeline" and "Megafon". In a number of regions, they operate independently, providing services on behalf of the main legal entity, and in other constituent entities of the Federation, they have subsidiaries that provide communication services.
At the same time, however, the competition in this market is quite strong, and therefore other companies providing communication services are actively claiming to be among the leaders. So, among these contenders, one can single out such operators as Tele2 and Rostelecom.
Operator codes
The phone number of any subscriber, in addition to the country code, which for mobile numbers usually has the format +7, and for city numbers is replaced by a set of "eight", consists of ten digits. At the same time, some part of the number is a kind of code that is assigned to one or another operator of the communication services market. It is also called non-geographic or def code.
Thus, the largest operators in the “big three” have assigned codes from the first two digits of the number. Thus, the MTS company owns numbers starting with 91 and 98, the Beeline company - numbers starting with 96, the Megafon company - numbers starting with 92 and 93. But other initial digits of the number are distributed as between representatives of “the big three”and between other, smaller companies, so it is somewhat more difficult to identify them. Moreover, some codes, for example, code 905, can be used simultaneously by several companies when forming numbers.
Until recently, it was possible to find out which operator a particular telephone number belongs to by using one of the telephone code directories, which are present in large numbers on the Internet. However, in 2012, the President of Russia signed the law “On Amendments to the Federal Law“On Communications”and Articles 33333 and 33334 of Part Two of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation”, according to which subscribers were given the opportunity to change their service provider while retaining their previous phone number.
Therefore, now it is almost impossible to unambiguously identify which operator services a subscriber uses, only on the basis of his phone number. In order to establish this exactly, you should contact the help desk of the alleged telecom operator, who will confirm or deny that it is he who is servicing this number.
