Shares in the online ad firm Phorm have fallen by more than 40% after BT said it had no immediate plans to use the service that tracks online behaviour.
Phorm serves up adverts related to a user's web browsing history, which it monitors by taking a copy of the places they go and search terms they look for.
However, it came in for considerable criticism from privacy groups and prompted an EU investigation.
The firm's shares were down 43.16% at 270p at 13:13 BST.
Phorm builds a profile of users by scanning for keywords on websites visited and then assigns relevant ads.
It has proved controversial because it scans almost all sites a user visits and there is an ongoing political debate about how a user gives consent.
Phorm had conducted trials of its technology with BT, which it marketed as Webwise.
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