Cellum to introduce mobile payment in Bulgarian subway

Budapest, 21 June, 2013 – Vivacom and Cellum Bulgaria has held a joint demonstration of a technology for purchasing and using e-tickets via mobile phones on Bulgarian subway lines. The mobile payment solution is based on QR codes and can be implemented in the next 7-12 months. It was pointed out by Stoyan Bratoyev, CEO of Sofia Metropolitan that the first positive step has been made and the technical solution has proven to be reliable. The next step to take concerns procedural decisions for bringing the solution and the current regulations of the Municipality in line with each other.

Last December, Cellum Group has launched its first complex mobile payment solution in Bulgaria, named CellumPay, merely half a year after the founding of its Sofia-based subsidiary. Following the first few months of the introductory phase, this new announcement marks a new milestone in the company’s history. The e-ticketing service will be integrated into CellumPay, thus users will be able to purchase subway tickets through the application.

CellumPay turns smartphones into mobile wallets. After downloading the application, users can register their bank cards in the system and use it to top up prepaid phone cards, pay utility bills and purchase goods over the Internet.

CellumPay’s new function: e-ticketing

Access to metro stations in Sofia is possible in two ways: via season passes and via tickets. Tickets themselves can be printed on paper (single ticket) or stored electronically on smartcards (ten tickets). The proposed CellumPay solution supports both options for access via ticket purchasing. The ticket purchase is made through a special menu in the CellumPay app and can be paid for using a bank card or by way of operator billing, charging the credits of the customer.

When purchasing a single ticket, one QR code is generated and, accordingly, when purchasing ten, ten different QR codes are generated. The ticket validation is done at entrance gates by dedicated scanners. Each e-ticket can be used only once and after validation it becomes invalid. Information in the generated QR codes is encrypted and highly secure.

The solution won’t require any registration by the customer as MSISDN recognition will be used. It will be available for the following mobile platforms:

• Android, iOS, Winows Phone (via additional functionality in CellumPay app.)
• Older smartphones and feature phones with web capability (via mobile website)

“Users can register their MasterCard, Visa and American Express cards in Bulgaria’s first mobile payment system CellumPay. They can already use their smartphones to pay for the services of numerous public utility companies, merchants, telecommunications companies and taxies – and now e-ticket purchase is going to be a great new option”, says Vladimir Buyukliev, CEO of Cellum Bulgaria. “The technology has already proven itself: it is fast, convenient and safe. We are very proud of having been chosen as partner of the Sofia Municipality. We hope to make traveling a lot more convenient for many passengers.”

CellumPay services

·         mobile bill payment: pay your phone and utility bills by scanning QR codes;

·         taxi fare:  pay the fare in taxis by scanning QR codes;

·         mDonation: make donations to charities using QR codes;

·         top-up: top up your prepaid cards (e.g. phone, taxi and other prepaid cards) using your mobile phone;

·         pay for your purchase at accepting merchants’ webshops by entering only your phone number;

·         e-ticketing: under development.

www.cellum.hu