Caribbean Carrier Digicel First to Offer Shine's Ad-Blocking Technology

Shine, the Israeli startup eager to sell its ad-blocking technology to mobile phone carriers, has landed its first public customer in Caribbean phone carrier Digicel.

Digicel said Wednesday that it will use Shine’s technology first in Jamaica, with plans to roll it out to other Caribbean and South Pacific markets in the coming months.

Digicel

Shine’s technology plays to a segment of carriers that feel the Internet giants are making profits off the back of their networks without sharing enough revenue — a view popular among some European carriers.

“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,” Digicel Group Chairman Denis O’Brien said in a statement. “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.”

Shine has been calling for consumers to be spared the cost of paying for ads, last month taking out an ad urging European carriers to deliver advertising toll-free. Chief Marketing Officer Roi Carthy said he isn’t worried about the impact ad blocking could have on an industry that offers many apps for free, relying on advertising to provide the economic engine.

“We are concerned only about one thing — the benefit of consumers, and protecting them from abusive ad tech,” Carthy told Re/code.

Shine says it has signed up other carriers, but said nondisclosure agreements prevent it from naming names.

The company is not alone, with Apple adding support for ad-blocking technology into iOS 9.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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