Bharti Airtel, one of India’s leading telecommunications providers, has reported significant progress in tackling spam communications with its recently launched AI-powered spam-detection system. Within just two and a half months, the system flagged approximately 8 billion spam calls and 0.8 billion spam SMSes, highlighting the extent of unsolicited communication across its network.
The company disclosed that nearly 252 million unique customers were alerted to potential spam activity, with a noted 12% decrease in the number of such calls being answered. According to Airtel, 6% of all calls and 2% of all SMSes on its network have been identified as spam. A striking finding was that 35% of these spam calls originated from landline numbers.
Regionally, Delhi saw the highest number of spam calls received, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Western Uttar Pradesh. The report also highlighted that most spam calls originated from Delhi, Mumbai, and Karnataka. For spam SMSes, Gujarat, Kolkata, and Uttar Pradesh emerged as the leading sources, while the most targeted regions included Mumbai, Chennai, and Gujarat.
The analysis revealed that male customers were the primary targets of spam calls, constituting 76% of recipients. Customers aged between 36 and 60 years received 48% of spam calls, making them the most affected group. Individuals aged 26 to 35 years accounted for 26% of spam call recipients, while only 8% of such calls were directed at senior citizens.
Spam activity typically peaked between noon and 3 pm and declined by approximately 40% on Sundays. Additionally, devices priced between ₹15,000 and ₹20,000 were identified as receiving 22% of all spam calls, indicating trends tied to customer profiles.
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Airtel’s AI-powered system uses real-time analysis of multiple parameters to identify spam calls and messages with high accuracy. This initiative is part of a broader effort to address customer concerns about unsolicited communication and enhance network reliability.
The government has also implemented measures to standardise the origin of certain types of calls. For example, transactional and service-related calls are routed through 10-digit numbers with the prefix 160, while promotional calls to non-DND subscribers use the prefix 140.
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