Airtel Africa says its AI-powered spam alert service has reduced unwanted SMS in Nigeria by 84% in six months, part of a rollout across 13 of its 14 markets to curb fraud and nuisance messaging at scale.
The network-level system scores sender behavior across 250+ signals—such as SIM-swap frequency and cross-network sender patterns—to flag likely spam in real time, and Airtel says it does this without reading message content. Protection is on by default for all subscribers; there’s no app to install or settings to manage.
Between March 13 and May 20, 2025, Airtel intercepted 9.6 million suspicious messages in Nigeria, including 528,080 originating on Airtel and 9,138,928 from other networks. Beyond Nigeria, the filter is live in markets including Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, DRC, Chad, Niger, Malawi, Madagascar, Gabon, and Congo Brazzaville. Kenya recorded the highest detected volume at 68 million messages, followed by Tanzania (47 million) and Zambia (33 million).
Nigeria’s regulator has leaned into carrier-led defenses. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) welcomed Airtel’s deployment, pointing back to its 2023 Industry Risk Report, which flagged SMS phishing and unsolicited bulk messaging as major consumer threats—particularly for first-time smartphone owners and rural users—and urged tighter operator–regulator coordination to reduce digital risks.
“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 Sunil Taldar, CEO of Airtel Africa. “This free service is yet another demonstration of our commitment to consistently innovate to deliver an unmatched experience and safer network to our customers.”
With SMS still critical for banking alerts, 2FA, government services, and commerce, carrier-grade AI filtering is quickly becoming table stakes. The challenge isn’t just blocking obvious junk—it’s separating fraud from legitimate A2P traffic without breaking essential notifications. If Airtel sustains Nigeria’s 84% reduction while keeping false positives low, rivals will be pressured to sharpen their own network-level AI filters—or risk churn as users increasingly equate “fewer scam texts” with “better network.”
