Mobile communications outfit Telrock is partnering with UK payment operator PayPoint to provide a service for consumers to pay bills and top up their mobile phones via text message.
Telrock says it will provide its mobile payments system textDebit to PayPoint under a revenue-sharing agreement. To use the system, consumers must pre-register a debit, credit or pre-paid card which can then be used to pay a variety of bills such as energy, telecommunications or water, or top up a prepaid mobile phone.
The Telrock mobile payment and customer account servicing platform is already being used by British Gas, Scottish and Southern Energy and Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
Dominic Taylor, chief executive of PayPoint, comments: "This partnership with Telrock will enable PayPoint to exploit the increasing popularity of mobile payments while broadening its proposition to existing and new clients and offering customers a further convenient way to pay bills and buy other services."
Earlier this week, Internet search engine Google filed a patent application for a new service that would enable consumers to pay for purchases using SMS text messaging. On the same day, the UK's major mobile phone operators - Orange, Vodafone, T-Mobile, 3 and O2 - launched a payment system that allows subscribers to use their handsets to pay for low value purchases