Who needs ad-blockers when your carrier has your back?

Three has unveiled plans to begin blocking “excessive and irrelevant” mobile ads at the carrier level so users on its network don’t have to endure them when browsing the web on their smartphones and tablets.

Many users have turned to apps and browser plugins to eliminate mobile advertising and streamline their browsing experience. Apple and Samsung have updated their browsers to play nicely with content blockers. But Three believes there is an even better solution.

“Network-based ad-blocking is a more powerful and effective solution for customers than application-based technologies as it reaches a broader range of mobile advertising,” explains Three, which has teamed up with Shine Technologies to make ad-blocking possible.

The carrier insists its plan is not to eliminate eliminate mobile advertising completely, “which is often interesting and beneficial to our customers,” but to provide more control and ensure that the user experience isn’t hindered by them.

Three’s main objectives are to prevent excessive data charges as a result of online ads; to protect user privacy and security, blocking ads that “extract and exploit data about customers without their knowledge or consent”; and to eliminate ads that are irrelevant.

The service will be available to subscribers in the U.K. and Italy first, and Three promises to provide more information in the coming months. It’s unclear when Three subscribers will be able to take advantage of this, or whether they’ll have to pay extra for it.

• SourceThree