Airtel Africa has intercepted more than 205 million fraudulent SMS messages across 13 countries in just six months through its new artificial intelligence-driven tool, Spam Alert.
The telecom operator announced that the service, offered free of charge to all customers, automatically detects suspicious texts, labels them with “SPAM Alert,” and provides live notifications. This means subscribers don’t need to install third-party apps to filter unwanted messages.
So far, Spam Alert has been deployed in nearly all of Airtel Africa’s markets, including Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, Malawi, Madagascar, Chad, Niger, Gabon, Rwanda, Congo Brazzaville, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Seychelles is expected to follow soon.
Data released by the company shows Kenya leading with 68 million flagged messages, followed by Tanzania with 47 million, and Zambia with 33 million.
The operator noted that the system has already cut spam traffic by 12 per cent overall, with Nigeria recording the steepest fall at 84 per cent fewer spam texts.
Airtel Africa’s Group CEO, Sunil Taldar, praised the progress, saying: “We are proud to pioneer an advanced tech solution powered by AI in tackling spam messages that are a major concern in Africa as smartphone penetration increases. This free service is yet another demonstration of our commitment to consistently innovate to deliver an unmatched experience and safer network to our customers.”
According to the firm, Spam Alert relies on AI algorithms that evaluate factors such as message frequency and sender behaviour to instantly flag questionable texts and mark them accordingly.
