Three UK announced that it will start a trial network-level ad-blocking campaign in the country.
The company touted the move in February, as the carrier signed a partnership with Shine, an enterprise that is familiar with the practice.
Users should expect the trial, which Three says will last for 24 hours, to take place on the third week of June.
Customers will be contacted beforehand and will receive the option to sign up through the main website of the carrier. Shine boasts that it has the means to ad-block "all of the mobile Web," which means display ads on browsers as well as display ads in apps.
Three's chief marketing officer, Tom Malleschitz, thinks that the current ad model is flawed.
He explains that the existing practices frustrate customers, gulp up data plans and are even dangerous for users' privacy.
The network enumerates three reasons why mobile ads should be stopped. For one thing, customers end up paying for the data eaten up by ads. For another, subscribers need more security at their disposal, as some marketers use ads to track people without their consent. Lastly, advertising itself could use an upgrade in focus and relevance.
Shine did not go into a lot of detail when explaining how the ad blocking will happen. The company mentions that its "machines" will handle deep packet inspection (DPI) inside the network. Shine notes that "real-time analysis, artificial intelligence and algorithms" will be deployed so that the original Web page or app will keep running while the ads are being blocked.
It should be noted that a big number of Internet sites rely on advertising revenue to keep afloat, and axing ads can literally shut them down.
However, ad blockers see surging popularity among the more conscious of users. Adblock Plus, for example, is so popular that firms are paying its developers to get "whitelisted" from it. Three's cooperation with Shine could mean that more people will start seeing the advantages of using ad blockers.
The impact on the UK advertising market could be significant if Three's rivals EE and O2 start to implement similar programs.
Shine did mention that it has been in talks with other networks, but refused to go into details.
