Bharti Airtel flags 8 billion spam calls, 0.8 billion spam SMSes in 2.5 months

Bharti Airtel has flagged a 8 billion spam calls and 0.8 billion spam SMSes within two and a half months of launching its AI-powered, spam-fighting solution. As per the company, the AI-powered network has successfully identified close to 1 million spammers every day leveraging this advanced algorithm.

The company, in the last 2.5 months, has alerted close to 252 million unique customers to these suspicious calls and has observed that there has been a 12 percent decline in the number of customers answering them. Six percent of all calls on the Airtel network have been identified as spam calls, while 2 percent of all SMSes have also been identified as spam. Interestingly, it has been observed that a staggering 35 percent of the spammers have used landline telephones.

Additionally, 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 a maximum number of the 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.

As per the trends, 76 percent of all spam calls have been targeted at male customers. Additionally, distinct differences have been noted in terms of spam call frequency across age demographics. Customers in the age bracket of 36-60 have received 48 percent of all spam calls, while those in the 26-35 age bracket have been the second-most targeted, accounting for 26 percent of spam calls. Approximately only 8 percent of the spam calls have landed in the handsets of senior citizens.

The company's findings have also shed light on the hourly distribution of spam activity. Spam calls commence from 9 am onwards and gradually escalate in volume as the day progresses. The peak of spam activity is observed between noon and 3 pm, during which the highest concentration of spam calls occur. Moreover, there is a notable disparity in the frequency of spam calls between weekdays and weekends. The volume of these calls diminishes by around 40 percent on Sundays. Specifically, devices in the price range of 15,000 to 20,000 rupees are the recipients of approximately 22 percent of all spam calls.

By meticulously examining a multitude of parameters, the AI-driven system has been able to identify these unwanted intrusions in real-time with remarkable accuracy. This groundbreaking initiative has firmly established Airtel as the first service provider in India to offer a comprehensive solution to the growing menace of spam, setting new industry standards for inclusive security measures that prioritise the privacy and convenience of its vast customer base.

The Government of India (GoI) has allocated 10-digit numbers with the prefix 160 to for service and transactional calls. Customers can expect to receive calls from these 160-prefix series assigned to banks, mutual funds, insurance companies, stockbrokers, other financial institutions, corporates, enterprises, SMEs, big and small businesses used for making transactional and service calls.

Additionally, those customers who have not opted for Do-not-disturb (DND) and have subscribed to receiving promotional calls will continue to receive them from a 10-digit number with the prefix 140.