Airtel Africa’s Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered Spam Alert service has detected more than 205 million spam SMS messages across Africa in the last six months, with Kenya recording the highest spam volume at 68 million flagged messages.
The Spam Alert Service, available to all subscribers at no cost, identifies and prefixes the SMS with “SPAM Alert” and provides real-time updates, eliminating the need to download additional applications to manage spam.
During the same period, Tanzania recorded 47 million flagged messages while Zambia registered 33 million. Overall, the continent has seen a 12 per cent reduction in spam since the launch of the service, with Nigeria achieving the sharpest drop of 84 per cent.
Airtel Africa CEO, Sunil Taldar, 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.”
Airtel Africa’s Spam Alert service uses AI to analyse and classify SMS messages as “SPAM ALERT” based on various parameters, including the sender’s usage patterns and SMS frequency in real time.
Airtel Africa has so far rolled out the service in 13 of its 14 markets, namely Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, Malawi, Madagascar, DRC, Rwanda, Tanzania, Chad, and Niger. Seychelles will launch soon.
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