Internet9.10.2014

What SA telecoms websites looked like in the 90s

By Staff Writer

Have you ever wondered what South African websites looked like in the nineties? The Internet Archive has the answer.

The Internet Archive is a non-profit organisation that was founded to build an Internet library. “Its purposes include offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format,” the organisation explains.

The Internet Archive was founded in 1996, and evolved to include texts, audio, moving images, software, and archived web pages in its collections.

In South Africa, some of the first websites were from the large telecommunications providers and Internet Service Providers like Telkom, Internet Solutions, and MTN.

Here is what some of these websites looked like in the 90s and early 2000s.

MTN in 1996

MTN was granted a mobile licence in South Africa in 1993, and launched its first commercial services in the country in June 1994. The 1996 version of the MTN website explains it all.

MTN 1996

Internet Solutions in 1996

Internet Solutions’ 1996 website had all the hallmarks of a website of its time – banners all over the show, a Netscape badge, and a really funky hit counter.

IS 1996

Intekom in 1996

Some people may remember Intekom – Telkom’s Internet Service Provider. The 1996 version of the Intekom website had a strange cyber garden theme.

Intekom 1996

Telkom in 1998

Telkom is South Africa’s dominant fixed-line operator and the only provider of ADSL in the country. Here is what its website looked like in 1998.

Telkom 1998

MWEB in 1998

MWEB’s 1998 website was surprisingly easy on the eye. A few images are missing when viewed through The Internet Archive, but the design was certainly not bad.