Bulgarian electronic payments system ePay.bg introduced a new payment service - via mobile phones, called ePayGSM. Starting this month, Bulgarians will have the opportunity to pay their utility bills by sending a text message.

To use the service, the customers need to have a valid mobile phone number and an active bank account from one of the 21 banks that have agreements in place with ePay.bg. If so, the customer needs to make a one-time registration via telephone, the website www.epaygsm.com or in a bank office.

Instruction and more detailed information on the procedure are provided after sending a text message to telephone number 1901.

The system will allow customers pay their bills for electricity, heating, water, telephone, mobile phone, gas supply, internet, cable television, as well as leasing, credits and rents, among others. The registration fee is 0.9 leva.

Every month, the system will send customers a text message with the amount owed and an instruction how to pay. Answering the message, according to the instructions, will complete the payment.

The service ePayGSM will not be charged additionally and will be available from abroad as well . The cost of the text message will be according to the personal subscription plan. More than half a million households are expected to register in the system.

Georgi Marinov, ePay.bg executive director, said that using ePayGSM was extremely easy, fast and convenient and customers needed no special technical or computer skills. "We are sure that the service will replace the boring and long waiting on queues," he said.

According to ePay.bg, their service was extremely well protected and the payment security was guaranteed. Payment ordering to the bank was indirect and the mobile phone number was not related to the bank account.