Incumbent mobile ad networks such as Admobi, Millennial, Inmobi, et al could face new competition, if three of the UKs biggest networks follow through on plans to launch their own mobile advertising platform.

Last June, Everything Everywhere, O2 and Vodafone revealed their intentions to form a joint venture, with a focus on mPayments.

With the formal submission of the plans in the UK to the European Commission, it has emerged that the proposed joint venture also included a mobile advertising platform. A spokesperson for O2 confirmed to Mobile Marketing that plans for the platform exist, but said that the networks would sell the ad inventory separately rather than as a collaborative whole, with the consumer-facing operations remaining in competition.

If the plans do come to fruition, the operators would be in position to target ads at consumers using demographic profiling based on their own anonymised customer data.

Rather than seeing the move as a threat, Victor Malachard, CEO of mobile ad network Adfonic, thinks it shows the UK mobile advertising space in rude health. “It’s important not to get carried away with its implications at this stage. It will take a significant amount of time for the venture to get off the ground, and longer still before we start to see what real impact this will have on the UK mobile advertising market,” says Malachard. “Mobile advertising is, of course, not the operators’ core business. They will face tough competition in an already well-established market, from ad networks whose businesses are built on sophisticated mobile technology and in-depth expertise, that already have significant reach and scale, as well as enviable track records in delivering successful mobile advertising campaigns. It certainly won’t be an easy journey for the operators to put these foundations in place and there are many examples of telecoms operators entering markets in which they do not end up as the most innovative, nimble or effective players.”