DUBLIN, Ireland—Following on from the Ukrainian parliament’s decision to override the veto of the president on a bill legitimizing calling party pays (CPP)
(see Ukraine overrides CPP bill veto ), the country’s mobile operators have decided to stop using “direct numbers,” which have seven-digit formats without any specific area codes or mobile codes.
The State Telecommunications Committee announced direct numbers would no longer be issued and will be gradually eliminated. Oleg Prozhyvalskiy, the deputy head of the State Telecom Committee, said from now on all mobile numbers would have a specific code as with regional phone numbers.
It is estimated that one in 10 mobile subscribers in Ukraine uses direct numbers. UMC, Kyivstar GSM and Wellcom offer direct number to customers as an extra option and Golden Telecom uses only direct numbers.
