Bharati Airtel Introduces Spam Prevention AI Tool
On Wednesday, Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom operator, launched a new AI-powered spam prevention tool.
The new spam filtering system will reduce the growing threat of unwanted calls and messages sent across India, making it the first network-based AI based spam detection in the country that will be automatically enabled for its 387 million subscribers for free.
Addressing A Long-Term Issue
Unwanted calls and messages have been a permanent issue encountered by Indians. A recent survey conducted by LocalCircles found that 95% of users got unwanted calls every day, many receiving at least three each day.
The Do Not Disturb (DND) registry managed by the Government has also proved ineffective, with as many as 90% users still being targeted by spam.
“Spam has now become a menace for customers,” said Gopal Vittal, chief executive at Bharti Airtel, adding that it took the company 12 months to establish AI spam detection. Vittal also encouraged for more rigorous regulations around messaging services, such as WhatsApp regulation, which has definitely seen years of sustained complaints about spam texts from brands in India.
Bharti’s spam filtering system uses a two-layered protection mechanism, filtering spam at the network and IT systems levels.
Data scientists at Airtel have now developed a proprietary algorithm that traces the pattern of callers, analyzing frequency and duration for spam prevention in real time.
The AI spam detection solution examines through a significant volume of communication-1.5 billion messages and 2.5 billion calls daily. According to Airtel, the spam filtering system can identify up to 100 million potential spam calls and 3 million spam text messages per day.
In addition to spam filtering, Bharti Airtel’s new AI tool scans SMS messages for malicious links by checking them against a centralized database of blacklisted URLs to protect users from phishing attacks and other cyber threats.
The Indian telco’s new tool will also monitor irregularities like frequent changes in International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers, a common indicator of fraudulent activity to protect Airtel subscribers by detecting and addressing potential threats early.
Airtel expects its AI-powered spam prevention system to significantly reduce the spam-related issues faced by millions of Indians as the telco giant advocates for more scrutinizing regulations on messaging platforms to enhance customer safety.
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