Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange SA, Telefónica SA and Vodafone Group Plc join forces

Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange SA, Telefónica SA and Vodafone Group Plc have joined forces to create a joint venture for the implementation of a privacy-by-design digital marketing technology platform in Europe.

The newly formed joint venture holding company was approved by the European Commission on 10 February and will be based in Belgium.

The four companies will take an equal 25% stakes in the Ad tech joint venture which will by run by independent management under the oversight of a shareholder-appointed supervisory board.

The joint venture came out of a project launched by Vodafone and run by the four operators to develop a technological solution for digital advertising in Europe.

The companies said the platform has been designed to be compliant with European data protection policy and have already initiated a trial in Germany. Other trials are being considered in France and Spain to further develop the platform, intended to make it available to any operator within Europe.

In a joint-statement they said, “the platform is specifically designed to offer consumers a step change in the control, transparency and protection of their data, which is currently collected, distributed and stored at scale by major, non-European players.”

“The trial run by Vodafone last year successfully tested the platform on Vodafone’s and Deutsche Telekom’s networks in Germany, together with online publishers and advertisers. This enabled the four operators to evaluate the platform’s ease-of-use in providing consumers with greater control and transparency over how brands communicate with them. Furthermore, the initiative has examined how consumers’ personal data is used and their privacy protected in the online advertising ecosystem, while upholding the principles of a free Internet.”

Further details of the joint venture will be revealed in due course.