If rumors are to believed, a Facebook-branded browser might not be far off.

Independent UK technology blog Pocket-lint first reported last week that, according to "trusted sources," Facebook was engaged in acquisition talks with Norwegian web developer Opera Software. Both companies have thus far declined to comment.

Focus has remained primarily on the 17-year-old Opera Software's flagship browser, and the possibility that Facebook could be planning to leverage the Opera Mini browser for a strengthened mobile push. There are more reports that the social network is, once again, developing its own branded smartphone and mobile operating system.

However, there is another more important part of Facebook's post-IPO plans that an Opera acquisition could solve—monetization and mobile ads.

Opera Software's first quarter 2012 financial report reveals a great deal about the company's current mobile strengths beyond browsing, especially where advertising and mobile revenue are concerned. In 2010, for example, Opera acquired advertising publishing platform AdMarvel. This was followed by the acquisition of advertising suppliers Mobile Theory and 4th Screen Advertising earlier this year. Combined, Opera now claims to offer "the leading global mobile advertising platform," with a reach of 140 million mobile consumers globally—330 million when Opera's own browsing software is included.

That is still far less than the 425 million people that access Facebook from a mobile device each month, but the difference is that Opera is actually making money. Mobile advertising revenue growth is up 303% when compared with the same period last year, according to Opera's first quarter results.

As reported earlier this month, Facebook users spend more time interacting with the social network via their mobile phones than the desktop site, according to data from digital analytics firm comScore—where there has been very little advertising revenue. In the company's February IPO filing, founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that "if users increasingly access mobile products as a substitute for access through personal computers, and if we are unable to successfully implement monetization strategies for our mobile users, our financial performance and ability to grow revenue would be negatively affected."

According to Reuters, news of the potential acquisition caused Opera's stock to jump as high as 26 percent Tuesday on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Facebook stock, meanwhile, fell below $30 for the first time Tuesday, down almost 25 percent from its IPO price.

Opera also earns revenue from a variety of less obvious sources, including deals with manufacturers of cellphones and Smart TVs where Opera software comes preinstalled, in addition to extensive deals with Google to monetize search. In 2012, the company is planning a big push into mobile payments using Opera Mini and an initiative called the Opera Payment Exchange.

It is likely that, were Facebook truly interested in acquiring Opera Software, it would be on the strength of these mobile advertising acquisitions and licensing initiatives as revenue generators, rather than its browser technology. Despite its claim of 270 million users each month, Opera's slice of the browser market share is relatively small when compared with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and even Microsoft's Internet Explorer—a mere 2.39 percent of combined browser marketshare. For context, Internet Explorer still dominates half of the web.

Here at Ars, the results are similar. Opera users account for just over two percent of all visitors—1.83 percent from the company's desktop browser, and 0.35 percent from Opera Mini. The company claims 168.8 million mobile users browsed the internet with its Opera Mini software in March.

That isn't to say there aren't certain aspects of the Opera browser that potential Facebook suitors wouldn't find attractive. Opera Mini is hugely popular on feature phones and less-powerful smartphones primarily sold in emerging markets, where Facebook is working hard to establish a stronger foothold. Opera uses compression technology that is said to shrink the size of a webpage by up to 90 percent, something that could make the delivery of the social network's rich and interactive feature-set easier.

But these qualities alone aren't worth the supposed $1 billion asking price that media outlets such as Reuters have been reporting—not when Facebook could build its own branded browser around the free, open source WebKit engine instead. If Facebook is to acquire Opera, it's not the browser itself that matters, but the browser's ability to satisfy Facebook's pressing mobile monetization and advertising needs.