Airtel Africa’s Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven Spam Alert service has flagged more than 205 million spam SMS messages across 13 markets in the last six months. Kenya has recorded the highest volume at 68 million.
The service was introduced earlier this year in Kenya and other African countries to automatically label suspected spam messages with the prefix “SPAM Alert” and provides real-time updates directly to subscribers’ inboxes. Customers do not need to install any additional apps, making the service more accessible across both feature phones and smartphones.
Kenya was followed by Tanzania with 47 million flagged messages and Zambia with 33 million. Across the continent, the deployment has contributed to a 12 per cent reduction in spam messages, with Nigeria standing out for an 84 per cent decline.
Sunil Taldar, Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Africa, said, “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.”
The Spam Alert system uses AI algorithms to analyse sender behaviour, frequency of SMS traffic and other parameters before classifying texts as spam. The feature has been rolled out in 13 of Airtel Africa’s 14 markets, including Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, DRC and Malawi. Seychelles is expected to join the list soon.
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