Peruvians who change cellular telephone companies will be able to keep their telephone numbers from January 2010.

Peru's Ministry of Transportation and Communications said Monday that the "portability" will allow cellular telephone users to change operators as many times as they wish to at no cost.

The Ministry said with the change, telephone companies are expected to offer lower tariffs and improved services.

The government says there are 22 million cellular phone users in the Andean nation.

Peru's cellular telephone market is dominated by two operators: Telefonica Moviles SAC, a unit of Spain's Telefonica SA, (TEF) and by Claro, owned by Mexican wireless communications provider America Movil SA (AMX).

-By Robert Kozak, Dow Jones Newswires; 511-99927 7269; peru@dowjones.com