The company, in the last 2.5 months, has alerted close to 252 million unique customers to these suspicious calls and has observed that there has been a 12% decline in the number of customers answering them. Six per cent of all calls on the Airtel network have been identified as spam calls, while 2% of all SMSes have also been identified as spam. Interestingly, it has been observed that a staggering 35% of the spammers have used landline telephones.

Additionally, customers in Delhi have received the maximum number of spam calls, followed by customers in Andhra Pradesh and Western Uttar Pradesh. Delhi is also where a maximum number of the spam calls have originated, followed by Mumbai and Karnataka. In terms of SMSes, the maximum number have originated in Gujarat followed by Kolkata and Uttar Pradesh and the maximum number of customers targeted have been from Mumbai, Chennai and Gujarat.

As per the trends, 76% of all spam calls have been targeted at male customers. Additionally, distinct differences have been noted in terms of spam call frequency across age demographics. Customers in the age bracket of 36-60 have received 48% of all spam calls, while those in the 26-35 age bracket have been the second-most targeted, accounting for 26% of spam calls. Approximately only 8% of the spam calls have landed in the handsets of senior citizens.

The company’s findings have also shed light on the hourly distribution of spam activity. Spam calls commence from 9 am onwards and gradually escalate in volume as the day progresses. The peak of spam activity is observed between noon and 3 pm, during which the highest concentration of spam calls occur. Moreover, there is a notable disparity in the frequency of spam calls between weekdays and weekends. The volume of these calls diminishes by around 40% on Sundays. Specifically, devices in the price range of 15,000 to 20,000 rupees are the recipients of approximately 22% of all spam calls.

By meticulously examining a multitude of parameters, the AI-driven system has been able to identify these unwanted intrusions in real-time with remarkable accuracy. This groundbreaking initiative has firmly established Airtel as the first service provider in India to offer a comprehensive solution to the growing menace of spam, setting new industry standards for inclusive security measures that prioritise the privacy and convenience of its vast customer base.

The Government of India (GoI) has allocated 10-digit numbers with the prefix 160 to for service and transactional calls. Customers can expect to receive calls from these 160-prefix series assigned to banks, mutual funds, insurance companies, stockbrokers, other financial institutions, corporates, enterprises, SMEs, big and small businesses used for making transactional and service calls.

Additionally, those customers who have not opted for Do-not-disturb (DND) and have subscribed to receiving promotional calls will continue to receive them from a 10-digit number with the prefix 140.

In this light, we welcome the announcements in the industry to repair tariffs. Airtel will also revise its mobile tariffs as indicated below, from July 3rd. We have ensured that there is a very modest price increase (less than 70p per day) on the entry level plans, in order to eliminate any burden on budget challenged consumers.

Making it one of the fastest rollouts in the country, Airtel 5G Plus is available across all the 28 states and 8 union territories. From the scenic Balia in Bihar to the historic Cuttack in Odisha, the smallest Ramgarh district in Jharkhand to Bishnoi a land for wildlife lovers in Rajasthan, from the serene Serai of Kerala to the marshy villages of Kashmir, Airtel customers are now onto the digital superhighway and are enjoying blazing fast speeds.

Commenting on the milestone, Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel said, “We are thrilled at the speed of adoption to 5G by millions of our customers and we are reaching this milestone earlier than planned. This marks a big expansion of Airtel’s 5G coverage going from 1 million in October of 2022 to 50 million in just 12 months of the launch. The expansion continues at full speed and I am sure, we will continue to rapidly multiply as we work towards nationwide coverage and enable all our customers to enter the 5G age.”

*With the exception of districts in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, Naxal affected areas of Chhattisgarh and the islands of Lakshadweep, which are connected through VSAT.

About Bharti Airtel Limited: Headquartered in India, Airtel is a global communications solutions provider with over 500 million customers in 17 countries across South Asia and Africa. The company ranks amongst the top three mobile operators globally and its networks cover over two billion people. Airtel is India’s largest integrated communications solutions provider and the second largest mobile operator in Africa. Airtel’s retail portfolio includes high-speed 4G/5G mobile broadband, Airtel Xstream Fiber that promises speeds up to 1 Gbps with convergence across linear and on-demand entertainment, streaming services spanning music and video, digital payments and financial services. For enterprise customers, Airtel offers a gamut of solutions that includes secure connectivity, cloud and data center services, cyber security, IoT, Ad Tech and CPaaS (Airtel IQ). For more details visit www.airtel.com