AT&T wants to put ads on your smartphone in exchange for $5 discount

Stankey apparently didn't offer details on what form the ads would take.According to Reuters, Stankey said that AT&T's ad-supported phone plans could be introduced in "a year or two." AT&T is already doing back-end work in its targeted-advertising system that could increase the value of such plans to AT&T's ad-sales business:AT&T engineers are creating "unified customer identifiers," Stankey said. Such technology would allow marketers to identify users across multiple devices and serve them relevant advertising.The ability to fine-tune ad targeting would allow AT&T to sell ads at higher rates, he said.Stankey also said that a planned ad-supported version of HBO Max would play an important role in ad-supported phone plans, but he didn't offer further details, according to Reuters."Various companies including Amazon, Virgin Mobile USA, and Sprint's Boost Mobile have tested advertising-supported phone services since the early 2000s but they have not caught on. But early in 2017, the Republican-controlled Congress and the Trump administration killed the rule before it could take effect.The merging of ads and phone plans is perhaps an inevitable outcome of telecom companies buying up media and advertising businesses, even though saddling essential telecom services with more advertising is not something customers are asking for.AT&T could really help US customers by expanding its fiber-to-the-home network to Americans who lack modern broadband, which is another topic that came up in the Reuters interview.