Google's oldest index dates back to 2001, and as much as the world as we know it has changed since then, much has remained the same. Brainstorm took a walk down search engine memory lane and found some old faces and long-forgotten names. Telkom, back in 2001, was expecting competition for the first time in 2002. Or so it was thought. That competition didn't materialise until a few years later (Neotel launched 1 August 2006), but headlines at the time read, "CWU opposes Telkom privatisation", "Telkom to face multiple competitors, says Ngcaba",  "Transtel/Eskom will be Telkom competition, says Radebe", and "Telkom stake to net R6bn". The company also launched its much-slated DSL service.

MTN, way back then, was still sponsoring the Gladiators (we've all been trying very hard to forget them), boasted a subscriber base of three million, and Johnnic (now Avusa) and MTN had just acquired 40 percent of Ebucks.com. Vodacom, meanwhile, passed the four-million subscriber mark in 2000 and by the end of 2001 hit the six million mark.