Mobile network equipment company Ericsson has announced that it will be providing a mobile advertising service to Dutch mobile operator KPN. This is the first mobile advertising service contract for Ericsson.

Hosting is part of Ericsson’s services portfolio and it is a business model that allows Ericsson’s customers to more easily and quickly launch and run services while Ericsson takes responsibility for systems integration and daily management of the end-to-end service.

This is one of the first contracts for mobile advertising that I know of that has been given to one of the big telco equipment companies. Most of the announcements to date have featured smaller companies that focus exclusively on mobile advertising (for example Amobee’s deal with Telefonica or Vodafone Italy).

KPN is a provider of telecommunications services, serving customers with wireline and wireless telephony, internet and TV services.

Using this service, KPN will be able to deliver targeted advertisements based on consumer preferences to individual network users via mobile internet pages and various messaging services. The advertisements can be targeted according to each user’s personal preferences, and advertising agencies can create and maintain advertisement campaigns through reporting tools.

Patrick Kuijsters, marketing director KPN Mobile, says: “Ericsson’ platform suits KPN’s need to add relevant advertisements to operator services to end users, in which opt-in plays a crucial role. KPN’s vision is to reduce waste of advertisers’ media spending and to deliver relevant offers to its consumers based on their desires.”

Read full Ericsson press release.