A mobile operator called Digicel announced yesterday that it plans to block advertisements at the network level—unless Google and other companies pay the carrier to let their ads through.

Further Reading EU carriers plan to block ads, demand money from Google

Such a scheme would likely violate network neutrality rules in the United States, but the Jamaica-based Digicel operates in the Caribbean and South Pacific. That means ads will be blocked on mobile devices starting "in the coming months" even if customers haven't installed ad-blocking software themselves. But ads will get through if ad-serving companies are willing to pay Digicel.

"Digicel is looking to companies like Google, Yahoo and Facebook to enter into revenue sharing agreements with it so that this money in turn can be reinvested in network deployment," Digicel wrote. "Currently, these companies do not pay to make use of the network and the services they provide on it suck up bandwidth to make money for themselves through advertising while putting no money in."

A similar argument was made by Comcast and other big Internet service providers in the US when they demanded fees from Netflix in exchange for direct connections to their networks. Netflix and others argued that Netflix was only delivering traffic requested by Comcast customers, who had paid for access to the entire Internet. Netflix eventually did pay Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, and AT&T for network connections, but it won another fight when the Federal Communications Commission set up a complaint process to review payment demands.

While Google et al may not be paying Digicel directly, they do pay for their own infrastructure and bandwidth in order to deliver content across the Internet.

Digicel claimed its demands for payment will "help connect the 4.2 billion unconnected people across the globe." The carrier has 14 million customers in more than 30 Caribbean and South Pacific countries and territories.

Digicel also justified its demands for payment by arguing that it will help its customers stay within the data caps that Digicel imposes upon them. Digicel's postpaid plans impose caps ranging from 500MB to 10GB per month.

It isn't clear whether ads will still count against Digicel's data caps if and when Google, Yahoo, and Facebook pay to get them unblocked. We asked Digicel that question this morning, and the company responded, "We would need to work out the details on this but suffice to say that ensuring that we deliver the best customer experience and value to our customers is our motivation."

Google declined comment when contacted by Ars today. Google's top ad executive said at an advertising conference this week that industry members need to collaborate to "come up with a definition of what an acceptable ad is," but that ad blockers "throw out the baby with the bathwater."

We also asked Yahoo and Facebook if they will pay Digicel to get their ads unblocked, and will update this story if we get an answer.

Digicel said it is the first mobile operator to use a product from Shine Technologies that blocks display and video ads in browsers and apps. European carriers were reportedly considering deployment of similar technology, but European-wide net neutrality rules that could take effect in November may scuttle those plans.

Back in 2013, the French ISP with the name "Free" imposed ad-blocking technology but quickly changed course after pressure from the government.

In the US, AT&T charges businesses for the right to deliver data without counting against customers' mobile data caps. Some advertisers have paid for the data cap exemptions. But under net neutrality rules, AT&T and other operators are not allowed to block ads or other content in the US except in cases of "reasonable network management," an exception that likely wouldn't apply here.

Digicel's ad blocking will not be used on "ads that appear on a handful of popular local news properties," a Wall Street Journal article said. "The company is considering giving users an opportunity to opt out of ad blocking if they wish, but it will be enabled by default," the article added.