Multinational mobile operator Three is introducing network-level ad-blocking across its UK and Italian branches. If it completes this move, it will be the first major European operator to do so.
After being implemented in the UK and Italy, the feature will be rapidly rolled out across Three's networks in other countries, according to the telco.
"We don't believe customers should have to pay for data usage driven by mobile ads," says Three UK's CMO, Tom Malleschitz, also stating that "irrelevant and excessive mobile ads annoy customers and affect their overall network experience".
A Three spokesperson said the network will block most data-hungry video ads, and about 95% of banner ads and pop-ups in both browsers and mobile apps.
Net neutrality
While Three's new policy may appeal to consumers who are frustrated by advertisements or have limited access to the data the ads consume, it has attracted criticism for impinging on net neutrality.
Debates about the pros and cons of ad-blocking are not new. Increasingly-popular mobile applications and browser extensions (for notebook and desktop use), which users download to avoid seeing advertisements when they use the Web, have raised concerned voices recently from both advertisers and the Web sites that rely on their ad revenue.
Some Web sites, such as UK-based news site The Guardian, urge their users to help financially support the site by turning off their ad-blockers while they use it, so the site can generate profit from users viewing the ads it hosts.
What is different about Three's network-level ad-blocking is that it is not the consumer but the service provider that functions as advertising gate-keeper, deciding which advertisements are, or are not allowed to appear, and when.
The principle of net neutrality states that Internet service providers, such as Three, should facilitate equal access to all content and applications regardless of their sources, without favouring or blocking particular content or sites.
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