Bharti Airtel says fraud-related financial losses fell 68.7% after it began using artificial intelligence to detect spam, malicious links and other threats directly across its network.
Bharti Airtel says fraud on its network has fallen sharply since it began rolling out
AI-based tools to identify spam and malicious activity, underscoring how large telecom
groups are increasingly turning to network-level security to counter digital scams.
Sharat Sinha, chief executive of Bharti Airtel Business, said the company first launched
its spam prevention system more than a year ago and then built a separate fraud
prevention product on the same artificial intelligence framework. The company says the
approach allows threats to be detected within the network itself, rather than relying on
customers to download a separate app or change their behaviour.
Airtel has previously said its spam-detection system, introduced in September 2024,
uses artificial intelligence and a wide set of parameters to flag suspicious calls and
messages in real time. The company later extended that effort in May 2025 with a fraud
detection service that blocks malicious websites across email, messaging platforms and
other channels, and redirects users to an explanatory page when access is prevented.
The operator has also pointed to measurable progress. According to figures cited by
Airtel, reported fraud-related financial losses fell 68.7% between September 2024 and
June 2025, while cybercrime complaints declined 14.3% over the same period. A report in
the Financial Express also said the network security system had identified tens of
billions of spam calls and blocked more than 1 million malicious links. Airtel has
separately added AI-powered banking OTP fraud alerts and teamed up with Google to
strengthen spam protection in messaging services.
Beyond security, Sinha said Airtel Business sees cybersecurity, cloud services, data
centres, internet of things connectivity and broader digital infrastructure as important
growth areas over the next three years. That reflects a wider shift in the telecoms
sector, where carriers are trying to expand beyond core connectivity by packaging
security, cloud and enterprise services alongside their networks.
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