The European Commission has approved a joint venture founded by several of Europe’s leading telecommunications providers, including Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica and Vodafone. The goal of this partnership is to create a revolutionary type of digital advertising platform that will offer a technology solution for digital advertising, while putting privacy first.
The holding company, which will be headquartered in Belgium and managed independently, will include a 25% ownership position from each of the major telecom companies. The platform was created with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union in mind, and it has already undergone successful testing in Germany. The platform will be made accessible to any operator in Europe.
To activate messages from marketers via publishers, consumers must explicitly opt-in to the new platform. The only item communicated is a “pseudo-anonymous digital token” that cannot be reverse-engineered. With improved transparency, protection and supervision over how their personal information is used, users will have more control over their data.
The digital advertising sector has come under fire for collecting a large amount of information on the general public, but this upcoming platform aims to stop intrusive monitoring. Advertisers will be able to recognize consumers on their websites or applications in a “pseudonymous” way thanks to the platform, which will create a special digital code based on the user’s mobile or fixed network subscription.
Although it might not seem like the telecoms operators are the most likely candidates to challenge the digital advertising market, their goal is to become more than just connection providers. This new platform is a step in that direction. Although the effectiveness of this platform in practical situations has yet to be determined, the European Commission’s approval raises the possibility that this initiative might improve the current state of digital advertising.
