diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index d5e24fee2..c6dae87a4 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -3,9 +3,18 @@ compiler:
   - gcc
   - clang
 before_install:
-  - sudo apt-get update -qq
-  - sudo apt-get install -y gdebi-core
-  - sudo ./utils/build_deps.sh $TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR
+  - sudo apt-get update
+  - sudo apt-get -y install devscripts equivs
+  # workarounds for Ubuntu xenial/16.04 LTS,
+  # `apt-get -y build-dep -Ppkg.ngcp-rtpengine.nobcg729 .`
+  # as well as several Build-Deps aren't available
+  - sed -i '/libbcg729-dev/d' debian/control
+  - sed -i 's/default-libmysqlclient-dev/libmysqlclient-dev/' debian/control
+  - sed -i 's/libiptc-dev/iptables-dev/' debian/control
+  - sed -i 's/debhelper-compat.*/debhelper,/' debian/control
+  - mk-build-deps --build-dep --install --remove --root-cmd sudo
 script:
   - make -C iptables-extension
-  - make -C daemon -j`nproc`
+    # `dpkg-parsechangelog [...] -STimestamp` is not available
+    # on Ubuntu xenial/16.04 LTS
+  - RELEASE_DATE=travis-$(date +%s) make -C daemon -j$(nproc)
diff --git a/utils/build_deps.sh b/utils/build_deps.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index ec4016bea..000000000
--- a/utils/build_deps.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,22 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-#
-# build_deps script for travis CI
-# installs the build_deps packages needed to build Kamailio
-# environment based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (precise)
-#
-BASE_DIR=${1:-$(pwd)}
-CONTROL_FILE="${BASE_DIR}/debian/control"
-if ! [ -f "${CONTROL_FILE}" ]; then
-	echo "Error: No ${CONTROL_FILE} found"
-	exit 1
-fi
-
-BUILD_DEPS=($(/usr/bin/gdebi --quiet --non-interactive \
-	--option=APT::Install-Recommends=false \
-	--apt-line "${CONTROL_FILE}"))
-if [ ${#BUILD_DEPS[@]} -eq 0 ]; then
-	echo "Error: no build deps packages resolved"
-	exit 2
-fi
-
-apt-get install -y "${BUILD_DEPS[@]}"