<P> Early international collaborations on the ARPANET were rare . European developers were concerned with developing the X. 25 networks . Notable exceptions were the Norwegian Seismic Array (NORSAR) in June 1973, followed in 1973 by Sweden with satellite links to the Tanum Earth Station and Peter T. Kirstein's research group in the United Kingdom, initially at the Institute of Computer Science, University of London and later at University College London . In December 1974, RFC 675 (Specification of Internet Transmission Control Program), by Vinton Cerf, Yogen Dalal, and Carl Sunshine, used the term internet as a shorthand for internetworking and later RFCs repeated this use . Access to the ARPANET was expanded in 1981 when the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded the Computer Science Network (CSNET). In 1982, the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP / IP) was standardized, which permitted worldwide proliferation of interconnected networks . </P> <P> TCP / IP network access expanded again in 1986 when the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNet) provided access to supercomputer sites in the United States for researchers, first at speeds of 56 kbit / s and later at 1.5 Mbit / s and 45 Mbit / s . Commercial Internet service providers (ISPs) emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s . The ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990 . By 1995, the Internet was fully commercialized in the U.S. when the NSFNet was decommissioned, removing the last restrictions on use of the Internet to carry commercial traffic . The Internet rapidly expanded in Europe and Australia in the mid to late 1980s and to Asia in the late 1980s and early 1990s . The beginning of dedicated transatlantic communication between the NSFNET and networks in Europe was established with a low - speed satellite relay between Princeton University and Stockholm, Sweden in December 1988 . Although other network protocols such as UUCP had global reach well before this time, this marked the beginning of the Internet as an intercontinental network . </P> <P> Public commercial use of the Internet began in mid-1989 with the connection of MCI Mail and Compuserve's email capabilities to the 500,000 users of the Internet . Just months later on 1 January 1990, PSInet launched an alternate Internet backbone for commercial use; one of the networks that would grow into the commercial Internet we know today . In March 1990, the first high - speed T1 (1.5 Mbit / s) link between the NSFNET and Europe was installed between Cornell University and CERN, allowing much more robust communications than were capable with satellites . Six months later Tim Berners - Lee would begin writing WorldWideWeb, the first web browser after two years of lobbying CERN management . By Christmas 1990, Berners - Lee had built all the tools necessary for a working Web: the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) 0.9, the HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the first Web browser (which was also a HTML editor and could access Usenet newsgroups and FTP files), the first HTTP server software (later known as CERN httpd), the first web server, and the first Web pages that described the project itself . In 1991 the Commercial Internet eXchange was founded, allowing PSInet to communicate with the other commercial networks CERFnet and Alternet . Since 1995 the Internet has tremendously impacted culture and commerce, including the rise of near instant communication by email, instant messaging, telephony (Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP), two - way interactive video calls, and the World Wide Web with its discussion forums, blogs, social networking, and online shopping sites . Increasing amounts of data are transmitted at higher and higher speeds over fiber optic networks operating at 1 - Gbit / s, 10 - Gbit / s, or more . </P> <Table> Worldwide Internet users <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> 2005 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> 2016 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> World population </Td> <Td> 6.5 billion </Td> <Td> 6.9 billion </Td> <Td> 7.3 billion </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Users worldwide </Td> <Td> 16% </Td> <Td> 30% </Td> <Td> 47% </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Users in the developing world </Td> <Td> 8% </Td> <Td> 21% </Td> <Td> 40% </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Users in the developed world </Td> <Td> 51% </Td> <Td> 67% </Td> <Td> 81% </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="4"> Estimate . Source: International Telecommunications Union . </Td> </Tr> </Table>

When did the internet become available to the general public