The Philippine internet began in 1986 with the first Philippine-based bulletin board system called First-Fil RBBS. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, email gateways and services emerged in the Philippines allowing local and international email. In 1993, the Philippine Network Foundation (PHNet) project was established to connect Philippine universities to the internet. On March 29, 1994 at 1:15 AM, the Philippines was finally connected to the global internet via a 64 kbps link to Sprint in the United States, marking the country's first connection to the World Wide Web.