Russia Prohibits Calls via IP Telephony

The Russian government has banned internet calls to mobile and landline phones. This refers to IP telephony, meaning calls to mobile and landline phones via the internet, where phone numbers are replaced with IP addresses, regardless of the geographical location of the interlocutors.

According to the statement, such technologies have often been utilized by fraudsters, as it allowed them to replace numbers. This type of telephone fraud will now be significantly curtailed, since the ability to connect data transmission networks to telephone networks will be excluded.

“This decision will not affect ordinary telephone users in any way. People who use voice communication in messengers are utilizing special programs that provide communication over the internet without accessing fixed or mobile phone networks,” the government’s press release stated.