A mobile payment service based on BlackBerry Messenger is set for commercial launch later this month in Indonesia.

BBM Money was developed by BlackBerry with local financial institution Permatabank and Monitise, the UK mobile money vendor, and Astra Graphia Information Technology, a local company.

BlackBerry users who sign up for the service can make P2P payments to other BBM Money users. They can also buy airtime credit and transfer money to their bank accounts.

Nothing has been said about making payments at the point-of-sale to buy physical goods. The announcement also does not say how the partners plan to charge for the new service.

Monitise described the mobile payment service as the world’s first for BBM. It will launch later in February following a trial which started on 1 February. The service has been approved by Indonesia’s central bank.

No mention has been made about introducing BBM-based mobile payments to other markets.