Airtel Says AI System Identified 98.4 Billion Spam Calls Since 2024

Airtel says its AI-led network systems have identified 98.4 billion spam calls as digital fraud risks grow in India.

How large is the spam problem?

India’s expanding digital economy has been accompanied by increasingly varied forms of cyber fraud, ranging from spam calls and phishing messages to impersonation scams, malicious links, fake banking requests, investment fraud and OTP-linked financial scams.

Data cited from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre indicates that Indians lost more than ₹52,976 crore to cyber fraud over six years. NCRB data also indicates that cybercrime cases have continued to rise even as the overall number of crimes in the country has declined.

The growing dependence on digital services across banking, payments, healthcare, commerce and government services has also increased expectations from telecom networks. Their role is increasingly extending beyond providing connectivity to identifying and reducing risks associated with digital communication.

What has Airtel detected?

Airtel introduced an AI-driven spam detection system at the network level in September 2024. The company says the system has since identified more than 98.4 billion spam calls and 4.4 billion spam messages.

The telecom company had launched what it described as India’s first network-based, AI-powered spam detection solution by a telecom provider in 2024. The system combined network intelligence with artificial intelligence to detect potentially unwanted calls and messages.

Airtel has subsequently expanded the initiative into what it calls its Safe Network, a broader set of network-level digital safety tools. These systems are designed to operate in the background rather than requiring customers to install additional applications or manually report threats.

How are malicious links being blocked?

One part of the network security system focuses on detecting fraudulent websites and suspicious links in real time. Airtel says the technology has blocked more than 1.62 million malicious links since its deployment.

The links were shared through channels including SMS, messaging applications, emails and browser redirects. The protection applies to the company’s mobile and Wi-Fi broadband subscribers.

Airtel has also introduced AI-based protection aimed at OTP-linked fraud. The system is designed to identify situations in which users may be manipulated into sharing one-time passwords or other sensitive credentials during suspicious interactions.

Another feature is business name display, intended to help users distinguish verified enterprise calls from potentially fraudulent or fake numbers. Such identification is aimed particularly at reducing impersonation scams involving people posing as banking or customer care representatives.

Why are telecom networks taking a larger role?

The measures reflect a wider shift towards addressing digital threats directly at the telecom network level. As fraud methods increasingly rely on calls, messages, malicious websites and impersonation, network operators are positioned to identify suspicious communication before users interact with it.

Airtel’s approach brings spam detection, malicious-link identification, OTP-related fraud protection and business caller identification under a wider network security framework.

The scale of activity identified by the systems also illustrates the volume of potentially harmful or unwanted digital communication moving through telecom networks. With more than 98.4 billion spam calls and 4.4 billion spam messages identified since the spam detection system was introduced, network-level filtering is becoming a significant part of efforts to limit users’ exposure to digital fraud.

The development also points to an expanding role for telecom infrastructure in India’s digital ecosystem, with networks increasingly expected to combine connectivity with measures intended to identify and reduce communication-based security risks.