Digicel, Thursday announced its plans to deploy ad control technology at the network level on its networks across the operator's 31 markets in the Caribbean and South Pacific regions. The operator will start implementing this in Jamaica before rolling out to other markets in the coming months.
The operator is working with a start-up firm, Shine Technologies, to be the first operator worldwide to embark on such a move. Shine’s technology blocks display and video ads inserted by ad networks in both mobile browsers and apps.
Claiming that the Ad control technology will benefit both consumers and network operators alike, Digicell said that ads use up as much as 10% of a customers’ data plan allowance, and the move will allow customers to browse the mobile web and apps without interruption from unwanted advertising messages. Digicell said that this will ensure a better experience for customers and will encourage the likes of Google, Facebook and Yahoo to enter into revenue sharing agreements with it so that this money in turn can be reinvested in network deployment.
Denis O’Brien, Chairman of Digicel Group
This is about giving customers the best experience and about getting access to broadband to the unconnected and allowing them to benefit from the opportunities it affords. Companies like Google, Yahoo and Facebook talk a great game and take a lot of credit when it comes to pushing the idea of broadband for all – but they put no money in. Instead they unashamedly trade off the efforts and investments of network operators like Digicel to make money for themselves.
Ron Porat, CEO at Shine
Shine is dedicated to putting a stop to the abusive behavior of mobile advertising toward the network operator and the consumer. As the first operator worldwide to deploy our technology at the network level, Digicel is making a clear call for an improved customer experience.
