KINGSTON—Telecommunications service provider Digicel yesterday announced that it is deploying ad control technology on its networks across the globe to ensure a better experience for customers and to encourage the likes of Google, Facebook and Yahoo to help connect the 4.2 billion unconnected people across the globe.
Ad control technology benefits both consumers and network operators alike. With ads using up as much as ten per cent of a customers’ data plan allowance, this move will allow customers to browse the mobile web and apps without interruption from unwanted advertising messages.
Starting in Jamaica and rolling out to its other markets in the Caribbean and South Pacific in the coming months, Digicel will work with Israeli start-up, Shine Technologies, to be the first operator worldwide to deploy Shine’s mobile ad control technology at the network level. Shine’s technology blocks display and video ads inserted by ad networks in both mobile browsers and apps.
Digicel is looking to companies like Google, Yahoo and Facebook to enter into revenue sharing agreements with it so that this money in turn can be reinvested in network deployment and ultimately the bridging of the digital divide.
Denis O’Brien, chairman of Digicel Group, explained: “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. That’s unacceptable, and we as a network operator, are taking a stand against them to force them to put their hands in their pockets and play a real role in improving the opportunities for economic empowerment for the global population.”