How to stop all promotional text messages on Airtel Kenya network

Spamming people’s inboxes is almost getting out of control here in Kenya, just a few years back, we could honestly enjoy carrying around a phone and only expect very important messages and calls only. In fact, there were some instances people could sign-up to some online service that would send messages at randomly so people could see you also have active contact lists.

Today, the reality is quite different, within a day, a normal Kenyan can expect to receive in excess of ten promotional messages on some items that even don’t make sense to them. While there are some apps such as Truecaller that assist in curbing some of these spammers, unfortunately they are evolving everyday with different numbers that make it impossible to fully block them without shutting out genuine messages.

While there are apps to do this for you, blocking on a network level has always been my choice since they’ll remain blocked even when changing mobile phones. Airtel Kenya has a simple feature that can help its subscribers to block all promotional messages so they can relax and only expect genuine alerts from their friends and family.

How to block all promotional messages on Airtel Kenya network

• The USSD code method is unfortunately only available to prepaid customers
• Postpaid customers can request by sending an email to customerservice@ke.airtel.com
• On your mobile phone, dial *100#
• Then select Manage My Account
• Followed by Stop Promotional SMS

Please also note this process is not instant and will be processed within 24 hours