Indian telco Bharti Airtel says that its recent anti-fraud initiatives, to include an AI-powered spam detection solution, are paying off, with recent certified numbers showing a sizable drop in fraud losses and cybercrime incidents in general on its network.
According to stats from the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (MHA-I4C) released on Tuesday, Airtel’s network has seen a 68.7% decrease in the value of financial losses and a 14.3% drop in overall cybercrime incidents between September 2024 (the month Airtel launched its network-based AI-powered spam detection system) and June 2025.
Airtel vice chair and MD Gopal Vittal said its new spam detection system has identified over 48.3 billion spam calls and blocked 320,000 fraudulent links since it was installed.
“However, we see this as small steps in a much larger fight. We will continue to innovate and invest heavily in this area until our networks are free of digital spam and scam,” he said in a statement.
Airtel’s AI-powered spam detection solution uses an in-house proprietary algorithm that screens calls and SMSs at the network layer and the IT systems layer using data such as the caller or sender's usage patterns, call/SMS frequency, and call duration. The data is processed and cross-referenced against known spam patterns in real time.
The AI solution also alerts customers to malicious links in text messages by cross-referencing the links with a centralised database of blacklisted URLs. Airtel says the system can also detect anomalies such as frequent IMEI changes, which is a typical indicator of fraudulent behavior.
The system has been capable of screening international voice calls and text messages since April 2025. In May, Airtel unveiled a solution that detects and blocks malicious links across all forms of communication on its network in real time.
