Phorm’s CEO has appeared to refute a suggestion the on-ISP behavioural ad targeter may pay users to sign up to the service. NMA said Phorm “is undertaking research to discover what kind of offers users would regard as valuable enough to sign up”. But Kent Ertugrul, in a briefing with Forrester analyst Nate Elliott, said: “It’s important for users to find the product acceptable, but the idea of paying them is not something we’re considering.” The company told us it “has never announced an incentive scheme” and delivery of its service is up to ISPs themselves.

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Ertugrul also said Phorm has enough cash to continue for another one year at the current burn rate - it raised another £32 million through a share issue in March after incurring heavy infrastructure capex costs and we knew it reported £24.9 million in the bank as of September. With one of three possible UK trials completed and BT (NYSE: BT) “moving toward deployment”, coffers could grow from ad revenue if enough BT broadband users opt in (it won’t get income any other way - Phorm revenue is dependent on ad charges, not payments from ISPs).