EE is mulling on introducing ad control management for its 27 million mobile customers to enable them to control the type and number of ads they receive on their mobile devices. The Sunday Telegraph, reported that the largest mobile operator in the UK is conducting an “internal strategic review" on this. Speaking to the daily, EE's chief executive, Olaf Swantee, said that “We think it’s important that, over time, customers start to be offered more choice and control over the level and intensity of ads on mobile.
“For EE, this is not about ad blocking, but about starting an important debate around customer choice, controls and the level of ads customers receive. This is an important debate that needs to happen soon. That’s why we’ve kicked off a strategic review internally to start considering our plans.”
EE is not the first operator that is considering to implement ad control. Digicel in October announced its plans to deploy an ad control technology across its 31 markets in the Caribbean and South Pacific regions. The operator was planning to first roll it out in Jamaica before expanding to other markets and announced that they were working with a start-up firm, Shine Technologies to block display and video ads inserted by ad networks in both mobile browsers and apps. The operator, however faced backlash from the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) which warned the Operator against implementing the technology.
