Telecom operator Bharti Airtel has launched what it termed India’s first AI-powered spam detection solution aimed at solving the issue of spam calls and messages for its customers. Lately, promotional voice calls and messages from unregistered marketers have to some extent become a menace.

According to the telecom operator Airtel, the tool will alert customers in real-time to all suspected spam calls and SMSes. The solution is free of cost and will get auto-activated for all Airtel customers without them having to raise a service request or download an app. “Spam has become a menace for customers. We have spent the last twelve months to solve this comprehensively,” Gopal Vittal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Bharti Airtel, said on the occasion.

“Our solution has been able to successfully identify 100 million potential spam calls and 3 million spam SMSes originating every day. For us, keeping our customers secure is a burning priority,” Vittal added. Developed in-house by Airtel’s data scientists, the AI-powered solution uses a proprietary algorithm to identify and classify calls and SMSes as “Suspected SPAM”.

The telecom operator claimed that its system flags suspected spam calls and SMSes accurately. Additionally, the Airtel solution also alerts customers to malicious links received via SMS. For this, Airtel said it has built a centralised database of blacklisted URLs and every SMS is scanned in realtime by AI algorithm to caution users from accidentally clicking on suspicious links.

Recently, in a major step to curb the increasing number of spam calls, regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has mandated all service providers to stop voice promotional calls, be pre-recorded or computer generated or otherwise, from all unregistered senders or telemarketers.