Phorm chosen by China Telecom for Big Data advertising plan

Controversial UK-based behavioural advertising company Phorm, which now labels itself an “internet personalisation technology company,” has scored a partnership with China Telecom as a supplier of advertising tools.

The company on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China Telecom to become its preferred strategic partner in the field of Big Data and advertising operations across both mobile and fixed broadband.

The agreement covers a wide range of proposed initiatives but the companies did not go into detail.

Phorm said it is continuing to build its commercial operations and expects to launch with further ISPs in China later this year.

The company launched in China last year and in Turkey in 2012. Despite being founded in the UK, Phorm has distanced itself from the market since 2009, when incumbent carrier BT admitted that it had tested Phorm in 2006 and 2007 without informing users involved in the trial. After a public outcry, BT then carried out an invitation-based trial of the technology in October and December of 2008.

BT then moved to distance itself from the technology and Phorm looked to launch operations elsewhere.