Ad-blocking software developed by Israeli company Shine has been deployed on one European mobile network and more will follow suit in an effort to break Google’s hold on mobile advertising.
Shine’s software allows mobile networks to filter out ads provided by Google and others in order to reduce bandwidth usage.
According to the Financial Times, several other carriers are planning to block ads on their networks as an opt-in ad-free service for users.
It appears the networks have taken umbrage at the fact that they are spending billions of euros on 3G and 4G networks while players like Facebook and Google make billions on advertising without investing a cent in cellular infrastructure.
In 2013, French ISP Free decided to block advertising in a firmware update but was forced to back down after political pressure.
It is understood that an unnamed European carrier intends to block ads to force Google to give up some of its revenue.
Shine is backed by Horizon Ventures, which is owned by Hutchison Whampoa chairman Li Ka-shing, who also owns Three’s network in Europe.
“Tens of millions of mobile subscribers around the world will be opting-in to ad blocking by the end of the year,” claimed Roi Carthy, chief marketing officer of Shine, in the Financial Times report.
Mobile ad-blocking image via Shutterstock
