Mobile Operator Three to Block Ads at Network Level

Three, the phone network with a focus on mobile internet, has announced that it will begin blocking ads at a network level within the UK and Italy, the first network in Europe to do so. In partnership with Israeli company Shine, Three will introduce adblocking over the next few months, with a “rapid roll-out” to other Three networks to follow.

Three promises that it will not block all ads – “Our objective in working with Shine is not to eliminate mobile advertising,” the statement reads – but those that negatively impact customer experience. “Irrelevant and excessive mobile ads annoy customers and affect their overall network experience,” Tom Malleschitz, Three UK Chief Marketing Officer, said.

Three has outlined, aptly, three “principal goals” for introducing adblocking:

1. That customers should not pay data charges to receive adverts.  These should be costs borne by the advertiser.
2. That customers’ privacy and security must be fully protected. Some advertisers use mobile ads to extract and exploit data about customers without their knowledge or consent.
3. That customers should be entitled to receive advertising that is relevant and interesting to them, and not to have their data experience in mobile degraded by excessive, intrusive, unwanted or irrelevant adverts.

“These goals will give customers choice and significantly improve their ad experience,” Malleschitz added. “We don’t believe customers should have to pay for data usage driven by mobile ads. The industry has to work together to give customers mobile ads they want and benefit from.”