According to a report in the Financial Times, one European wireless carrier told the publication that it plans to start blocking ads to mobile subscribers by the end of the year and claims other carriers are also ready to do the same. If the report is correct, this could have a significant impact on the mobile advertising industry, which is currently undergoing significant growth. 

?We expect the first [wireless carrier using Shine?s ad-block software] to happen within the next couple of months, maybe sooner,? said Roi Carthy, chief marketing officer of Shine. 

?In the two years afterwards, some are trying to be more adversarial while others are taking different attitude.?

Carriers are reportedly looking at a couple of different ways to limit mobile advertising for subscribers. 

One strategy would see the carriers give customers the ability to opt-in for an advertising-free service. 

The more dramatic strategy would be to cut off ads for all subscribers. However, this strategy could draw the ire of technology companies and regulators. 

Ad blocking software has made a mark on desktop but it still relatively new on mobile. 

According to Shine, about 144 million consumers use ad-blocking apps on the Web. 

Shine says that carriers that are planning to pilot the technology are actually looking at this as a way to forge a new kind of relationship with subscribers with the goal of making ads better and less intrusive. 

The news comes as telecommunications providers have been struggling with driving growth as they run out of new people to sell services to, their services become commodities and competition grows from over-the-top players such as WhatsApp.

Wireless carriers? role in mobile advertising was expected to be bigger what it is currently is. At the same time, ad tech companies are growing and increasingly encroaching the carriers? turf. 

Facebook acquired mobile messaging app WhatsApp for $19 billion in early 2014, underscoring how mobile messaging is increasingly moving away from text messaging ? a service offered by carriers ? and towards over-the-top service that cut into carriers profits. 

Last week, Verizon announced a $4.4 billion deal to acquiring AOL, pointing to how it might look to simplify distribution of content, build cross-channel customer profiles and deliver advertising solutions for brands looking to extend their reach beyond television (see story). 

Blocking mobile advertising is another way carriers could rewrite the landscape. Carriers could be looking to put pressure on Google to share a cut of the revenues from the advertising delivered across the infrastructure built by the carriers without any support from technology companies such as Google that are taking advantage of it. 

Per Mr. Carthy, the move to block ads is not purely about being adversarial. Carriers also see an opportunity to provide a service to mobile users that is already established on desktop. 

?Carriers came to the realization that ad tech was not just making a buck off their back but really polluting the user experience,? Mr. Carthy said. 

?Driving forward, there is a desire to provide users with a less polluted user experience.  In many markets, the penetration of desktop ad blocking is upwards of 25 percent. 

?If you are a carrier and you know that, you would be rather foolish not to ask yourself if you could offer the same thing in mobile.?