Sunil Mittal's Airtel approaches Mukesh Ambani's Jio and Vi, proposes joint telecom initiative against...

Bharti Airtel, the second-largest telecom firm in India, has approached Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea (Vi) with a proposal for a joint initiative to unite the industry against rising telecom fraud and scams. The Sunil Mittal-led Airtel has also informed the government and regulator TRAI regarding the same, PTI reported.

Airtel has also urged all telcos to collaborate and collectively address the growing threat of deceptive and malicious scams targeting vulnerable individuals. Bharti Airtel currently has a market cap of Rs 10.98 lakh crore. The telecom company has recently rolled out a fraud detection solution to block rogue sites across communication OTT apps and platforms, including WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram and others.

In separate letters to the telcos, it cited data that India recorded over 1.7 million cybercrime complaints in the first nine months of 2024, resulting in financial losses exceeding Rs 11,000 crore. This comes at a time when cybercriminals are using increasingly sophisticated tactics like phishing links, fake loan offers, and fraudulent payment pages, leading to a surge in digital fraud and identity theft incidents.

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"Given the recent alarming rise in phishing attempts and malicious URL-based scams targeting unsuspecting individuals, it became evident that more coordinated industry action was needed. These sophisticated fraud schemes often exploit the gaps in coordination between service providers," Airtel wrote in letters to Telecom Secretary Neeraj Mittal and Trai Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti.

Meanwhile, 43 per cent of the total smartphone subscriber base of Reliance Jio and Airtel collectively shifted to the new technology 5G, according to government and company data till the end of the fourth quarter of financial year 2024-25, as per a Business Standard report. The 5G penetration of the two telcos was pegged at only 29 per cent of the total smartphone subscriber base in Q1FY25.