Airtel Africa Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Airtel Africa plc, has released its inaugural annual report, marking its first full year of delivery and impacting millions of learners and communities across Africa.

During the reporting period, the Foundation committed $6.2 million to interventions across its four strategic pillars; Financial Inclusion, Education, Environmental Sustainability and Digital Inclusion (FEED), with education receiving the largest share of investment.

Key achievements include connecting 1,028 schools to the internet through its partnership with UNICEF, bringing the total to 3,296 schools connected across 13 countries, reaching over 2 million learners and nearly 39,000 teachers. In addition, 64 zero-rated digital platforms enabled over 11 million learners to access free educational content.

The Foundation also improved the condition of public schools, with seven fully renovated and 43 undergoing upgrades under the School Adoption Programme that integrates infrastructure improvements with digital access and holistic student development.

Through the Airtel Africa Tech Fellowship, 257 full university scholarships were awarded in Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda, expanding access to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education and building a pipeline of high-potential African technology leaders.

In addition to this, 30,530 youth and women were trained through digital skills initiatives delivered with national, multilateral, and private-sector partners.

Segun Ogunsanya, Chair, Airtel Africa Foundation said: “The Airtel Africa Foundation was established to help dismantle barriers caused by unequal access to opportunity. While talent and ambition are abundant, access to education, digital tools and economic participation remains uneven. Through partnerships and our continental reach, we are committed to investing in communities furthest from opportunity.”

The report also underscores the Foundation’s growing focus on measurable outcomes and long-term systems change.

The Foundation aims to scale proven interventions in the year ahead, including expanding its School Adoption Programme to over 80 schools, increasing scholarships to more than 600 youth, providing free internet connectivity to an additional 2000 schools, and extending digital skills and financial inclusion initiatives to underserved communities.

“As a Foundation, we are positioned to deliver skills development and lasting change at the individual and household level, while partnering with governments to unlock Africa’s economic transformation”, Mr Ogunsanya added.

More than 810 million women across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) remain offline, with Sub-Saharan Africa recording one of the world’s widest mobile internet gender gaps.

According to the GSM Association’s (GSMA’s) Mobile Gender Gap Report 2026, released this week, women in LMICs are still 12% less likely to use mobile internet than men, leaving an estimated 200 million fewer women connected than their male counterparts.

This is despite mobile internet becoming the primary gateway to the digital economy, according to new research from the GSMA.

The report reveals that of the 810 million women who remain offline globally, more than two-thirds live in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia −regions that continue to experience the widest disparities in digital access.

The findings highlight significant implications for Africa, and the challenges facing governments, mobile operators and development agencies seeking to expand digital inclusion.

The report notes that Sub-Saharan Africa’s mobile internet gender gap stands at 26%, second only to South Asia’s 25%. The divide becomes even more pronounced outside major cities.

“In LMICs, the gender gap in mobile internet adoption tends to be two to three times wider in rural areas than urban areas. In 2025, across all LMICs, the gender gap in mobile internet adoption was more than three times wider in rural areas than in urban areas.

“There is also a difference at the regional level, where the gender gap in mobile internet adoption is wider in rural than urban areas of LMICs in every region except Europe and Central Asia.”

For Africa, the rural challenge is particularly severe, the report warns.

The GSMA found that the gender gap in mobile internet adoption reaches 34% in rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, compared to 21% in urban centres.

Device challenge

Smartphone ownership remains a major obstacle to digital inclusion. The report found that women across LMICs are 13% less likely to own a smartphone than men, representing approximately 210 million fewer women with access to internet-enabled devices.

Across Sub-Saharan Africa, only 34% of women own smartphones, with the region recording a smartphone ownership gender gap of 22%, with access to internet-enabled devices remaining one of the most important factors influencing whether women eventually adopt mobile internet services.

“The type of mobile device a person owns matters, as it typically affects whether and how they use the internet. Once someone owns a smartphone, they are much more likely to be aware of mobile internet, adopt it and use it regularly and in a variety of ways. In fact, once women own a smartphone, these metrics more closely resemble those of men,” notes the report.

Barriers persist

Despite growing awareness of mobile internet and its benefits, women continue to face multiple barriers to meaningful participation in the digital economy.

The report identifies affordability, literacy and digital skills as the leading barriers preventing women from getting online.

Even after gaining access, women frequently report safety and security concerns, data costs and connectivity quality as obstacles to broader internet use.

The report notes: “Addressing rural gender gaps is essential to advancing digital inclusion for women overall. In particular, women who live in rural areas tend to have limited physical access to essential services and may have the most to gain from better access to mobile and mobile internet.

“Addressing gender gaps in mobile ownership, particularly of smartphones, and in mobile internet use can help women in rural areas benefit from these digital technologies to the same extent as men.”

Claire Sibthorpe, head of digital inclusion at the GSMA, warns that progress is not happening quickly enough and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence risk creating new forms of digital exclusion.

“While there has been a slow narrowing of the mobile gender gap since 2022, much more is needed to address the persistent and significant gender gaps in mobile internet adoption and use.

“We live in an increasingly digital world and the proliferation of technologies such as AI are creating greater digital divides and inequities, elevating the need to ensure digital inclusion for all.”

Recent research by Kaspersky has shown that the so-called “grey” websites repeatedly target all world regions, and this may be driving both financial loss and large-scale data harvesting.

Grey websites are deceptive online platforms that fall outside traditional phishing definitions but still manipulate users into voluntarily handing over money and personal data. Kaspersky’s new report provides detailed insights into the threats posed by the grey websites on global and regional levels.

Unlike classic phishing attacks, which aim to steal credentials outright, grey websites rely on persuasion, misleading interfaces, and hidden terms to exploit users. They often impersonate legitimate services such as e-commerce platforms, financial tools, AI services, or subscription-based content, making them significantly harder to detect.

Kaspersky analysis shows that the majority of suspicious resources globally fall into several recurring categories:

• Fake browser extensions and “security tools” that actually harvest browsing data and track user activity.
• Fraudulent financial platforms including crypto exchanges, trading tools, and investment schemes promising unrealistic returns.
• Intermediary services (e.g., legal or real estate), charging for low-value or nonexistent services while harvesting sensitive personal data.
• Subscription traps offering low-cost trials that convert into costly recurring payments hidden in fine print.
• Fake online shops that either deliver counterfeit goods or nothing at all.

Example of a grey website.

A notable trend is the emergence of tools disguised as AI services or image-processing platforms, reflecting attackers’ ability to adapt to current digital trends and target younger audiences.

There are proven security solutions that help users to detect grey websites across different types of devices – those running on Windows, Linux, Android and iOS. The detection model is based on many factors, including domain name and age, IP reputation, stability of the infrastructure used, DNS configurations, HTTP security headers, digital identity and popularity of the web resource and other criteria.

Regional specifics

Regional variations in grey websites demonstrate how threat actors localise scams based on user behaviour and trending technologies.

In Europe, the threat landscape is dominated by links to suspicious browser extensions and fake “privacy-enhancing” tools.

These resources often present themselves as security solutions, promising safer browsing or anonymous search capabilities. In reality, they function as browser hijackers – intercepting traffic, collecting cookies, tracking user behaviour, and injecting advertisements.

The popularity of these threats reflects a high level of user concern around privacy and security, which attackers actively exploit. Additionally, these regions show a steady presence of phishing intermediaries and crypto-related scams, indicating a blend of technical and financially motivated attacks.

Across African markets, financial scams are the most prominent category of suspicious resources. Fraudulent trading platforms, fake brokers, and investment schemes frequently mimic legitimate financial services, often accompanied by fabricated licenses or endorsements.

These platforms typically prevent users from withdrawing funds, instead introducing additional “fees” or taxes to prolong the scam. The concentration of these threats highlights how attackers leverage growing interest in online investing while exploiting gaps in regulatory enforcement and financial literacy.

In the Middle East and North Africa region, suspicious resources frequently mimic communication (Internet telephony) tools, financial platforms, or betting services. Additionally, Ponzi-style investment schemes and crypto scams are widespread, often presented through polished interfaces that mimic legitimate platforms.

Web browser-based threats also play a significant role, with malicious extensions targeting user data and browsing activity. The regional threat profile reflects a convergence of financial fraud and technical compromise, where users risk both data exposure and monetary loss.

“Suspicious websites don’t look harmful at first glance. But they exploit trust, urgency, and familiarity, and a single click on what looks like a harmless AI image tool, a “secure” browser extension, or a heavily discounted online shop could be all it takes to lose money or expose sensitive data.

Instead of direct credential theft, attackers turn to behavioural manipulation – whether that’s subscribing, investing, or installing software,” comments Anna Larkina, Web Content and Privacy Analysis Expert at Kaspersky.