College professors were depending on ARPAnet to send messages to each other, and share information faster and more economically than was possible by either phone or mail.
Can i rewrite the phrase to
"College professors were depending on ARPAnet to send messages to each other, and share information faster and more economically than (it) was possible (to economically share messages) by either phone or mail." ?
Is the original usage common? It is hard to understand.