Airtel Africa has flagged more than 205 million spam SMS messages in just six months through its AI-powered Spam Alert service, the telecoms provider announced today.
The innovative solution, which leverages artificial intelligence to detect and label unwanted text messages, has already been deployed in 13 of the company’s 14 operating markets.
Offered free of charge to all subscribers, the Spam Alert system identifies suspicious messages in real time, prefixes them with “SPAM Alert,” and eliminates the need for third-party applications to filter unsolicited content.
Since its launch, the service has contributed to a 12% reduction in spam messages across Airtel Africa’s network. Nigeria recorded the most significant drop, with spam traffic falling by 84%. Kenya topped the list in terms of total spam volume, with 68 million messages flagged, followed by Tanzania with 47 million and Zambia with 33 million.
Currently, the service is active in Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, Malawi, Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Tanzania, Chad, and Niger. Seychelles is expected to follow soon.
Sunil Taldar, CEO of Airtel Africa, said the rollout reflects the company’s broader commitment to digital safety across the continent.
“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,” said Taldar. “This free service is yet another demonstration of our commitment to consistently innovate to deliver an unmatched experience and safer network to our customers.”
The Spam Alert service uses AI models to analyse SMS sender behavior, frequency, and message patterns in real time to determine and classify spam content.
