War on spam: Airtel's network flags 8 billion spam calls in 2.5 months; identifies 1 million spammers daily

Bharti Airtel's AI-powered network flags 8 billion spam calls and 0.8 billion spam SMSes in 2.5 months.

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Monday (December 9, 2024) said its network has flagged a staggering 8 billion spam calls and called out 0.8 billion spam SMSes (text messages) within two-and-a-half months of the launch of its spam-fighting AI-powered solution.

The company informed in a release that leveraging an advanced algorithm, the AI-powered network has successfully identified close to 1 million spammers every day. Notably, 6% of all calls and 2% of all SMSes on the Airtel network have been identified as spam.

Delhi had the dubious distinction of accounting for a maximum number of the spam calls received and originated. In the last 2.5 months, the company has alerted close to 252 million unique customers to these suspicious calls and has observed that there has been a 12% decline in the number of customers answering them.

"Bharti Airtel, India’s first spam-fighting network, has flagged a staggering 8 billion spam calls and 0.8 billion spam SMSes within two and a half months of launching its AI-powered, spam-fighting solution," the release said.

Airtel observed that a staggering 35% of the spammers have used landline telephones. Customers in Delhi have received the maximum number of spam calls, followed by customers in Andhra Pradesh and Western Uttar Pradesh.

Delhi is also where the maximum number of spam calls have originated, followed by Mumbai and Karnataka. In terms of SMSes, the maximum number have originated in Gujarat, followed by Kolkata and Uttar Pradesh, and the maximum number of customers targeted have been from Mumbai, Chennai and Gujarat.

According to the trends, 76% of all spam calls target male customers. Additionally, distinct differences have been noted in terms of spam call frequency across age demographics. Customers in the 36-60 age bracket have received 48% of all spam calls, while those in the 26-35 age bracket have been the second-most targeted, accounting for 26% of spam calls.