AI from Airtel in Nigeria Reduces Spam SMS by 84%

Following the implementation of Airtel Africa’s Spam Alert artificial intelligence (AI)-powered spam detection technology, Nigeria has seen an 84% decrease in spam SMS.

In the last six months, the free service has identified over 205 million unwanted and fraudulent messages in 13 African markets, according to a statement signed by Airtel Africa’s Vice President of Corporate Communications and CSR.

Airtel also revealed that with 68 million reported messages, Kenya reported to had the largest spam volume, next which followed is Tanzania (47 million) and Zambia (33 million).

However, Nigeria had the biggest drop, demonstrating the powerful effect of Spam Alert in the nation’s battle against unsolicited text messages.

To avoid phishing scams, by marking suspicious SMS with “SPAM Alert,” which is a prefix, the Spam Alert service provides customers with real-time protection without requiring the usage of other apps.

Subscribers can now more easily avoid phishing scams and annoying communications that frequently target smartphone owners and mobile money users thanks to this proactive filtering.

Sunil Taldar, CEO of Airtel Africa, stated, “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.” 

Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, Malawi, Madagascar, DRC, Rwanda, Tanzania, Chad, and Niger are among the 14 markets where Airtel currently operates the Spam Alert service. According to Airtel, the program has already helped to reduce spam SMS by 12% in Africa. Seychelles will be added shortly, according to Airtel.

With over 9.6 million suspects, Nigerian spam interception of text messages were intercepted on Airtel Nigeria’s network between the first and second quarter, March 13 and May 20, 2025, according to a July announcement this year.

The business also claims that 5,28,080 of the flagged communications came from Airtel customers, while 9,138,928 came from sources outside the network.

The AI-powered system uses more than 250 criteria, such as sender identity, link structure, message volume, and regional abnormalities, to scan each incoming SMS.

Malicious and unwanted messages are marked as “Suspected SPAM” before they are seen by the recipient.

Each SMS was handled in less than two milliseconds thanks to the tool’s real-time feature deployed.

By eliminating the storing or analysis of message content, the approach protects user privacy while enabling dynamic scanning at the fundamental network and IT systems levels.

Airtel Africa’s AI-powered Spam Alert Service, which was introduced in March 2025, is a free automated service that detects and alerts consumers to questionable SMS messages. And we should know that the idea was praised by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), which said that the sector needs to be more proactive in managing digital hazards.

The concept which was embraced by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

According to Dr. Aminu Maida, the Vice Chairman, The program, enhances consumer protection at a time when fraud and spam are becoming more complex. He emphasised that in order to lower digital risks, operators and regulators must work together more.

“This AI-powered solution offers a much-needed layer of security as spam messages and fraud become more sophisticated,” stated Dr. Aminu Maida, Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission.

In order to identify spam messages without reading the individual messages, it examines the sender behaviour using more than 250 characteristics and this also includes SIM card changes and sender network behaviour.

In an effort to improve consumer protection and lower the risk of fraud, the NCC has recently investigated cooperative approaches with operators.

Phishing via SMS and unwanted mass messaging were mentioned as two of the top five issues affecting mobile subscribers in the Commission’s 2023 Industry Risk Report. This was especially true for under-developed rural areas and first-time smartphone users.

The solution offers wide range of real-time protection against SMS fraud and it doesn’t require app downloads or setup to work however, it is automatically included for all Airtel customers in Africa.

The Airtel Spam Alert service analyses a sender’s conduct based on over 250 criteria using artificial intelligence, AI. This covers the amount of messages transmitted, the frequency of SIM card swaps, and the geographic dispersion of the targeted numbers.

The AI service can process this data in milliseconds, allowing it to detect possible spam messages before they are seen by the user. If an incoming SMS is then marked as maybe spam, subscribers are immediately notified and the message is branded “Suspected SPAM.”