Google Chooses Kansas City For 1Gbps Network

Ending an epic contest featuring 1,100 communities, Google has announced that it has decided to install its high-speed broadband network in Kansas City.

Google said Kansas City beat out almost 1,100 cities clamouring to be the guinea pig for Google’s proposed broadband test, which will bring Internet access speeds of 1Gbps to thousands of homes in the city.

The search engine inked a development agreement with the city to build broadband networks that shuttle data more than 100 times faster than most residential broadband connections. Assuming everything checks out with Kansas City’s board of commissioners, Google will switch on the service in 2012.

Cutting Edge Network

Google in February 2010 announced its plan to construct speedy fibre networks, ostensibly to boost application consumption.

Faster Internet connections open new opportunities for programmers to write gaming applications and other graphically intensive programs. Google’s own YouTube video-sharing service would benefit greatly from speedier data facilitation, generating more video views and more ads served.

Google requested volunteer bids from municipalities, triggering frenzied competition for the free service. Politicians jumped into freezing lakes and swam with sharks to catch Google’s attention.

The search engine closed the bidding last March, after 1,100 communities and 194,000 individuals applied. The search engine had planned to announce its choice by the end of 2010, but failed to get through the applications in time.

Kansas City has been deemed the winner. Google will work with the city’s Kauffman Foundation, KCNext and the University of Kansas Medical Center to “help develop the gigabit applications of the future,” said Milo Medin, vice president of access services for Google.

“In selecting a city, our goal was to find a location where we could build efficiently, make an impact on the community and develop relationships with local government and community organizations. We’ve found this in Kansas City,” Medin added.

Tough Decision

Kansas City beat out its in-state rival Topeka, which went so far as to change its name to Google, Kansas, to attract the search engine’s attention.

A Google spokesperson offered this condolence quote to eWEEK:

“We want to thank Topeka and the hundreds of other cities across the country that expressed interest in our project. This was a tough decision, and we want everyone to know we carefully considered every application.”

The good news here is Google pledged to bring its fibre and ultra-high-speed access to other cities around the United States.

Clint Boulton eWEEK USA 2012. Ziff Davis Enterprise Inc. All Rights Reserved

Recent Posts

Ericsson To Cut 1,200 Jobs in Sweden Amid ‘Challenging’ Market

Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson blamed “challenging mobile networks market” and “further volume contraction” for job…

13 hours ago

FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced To 25 Years In Prison For $8bn Fraud

Dramatic downfall. Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison for masterminding $8bn fraud that…

14 hours ago

Elon Musk Orders FSD Demo For Every Tesla US Sale

Fallout avoidance? Tesla buyers in the US must be shown how to use the FSD…

15 hours ago

Amazon Pumps Another $2.75 Billion Into Anthropic

Amazon completes its $4bn investment into AI firm Anthropic, after providing an additional $2.75bn in…

17 hours ago

The Sustainability of AI

While AI promises unparalleled efficiency, productivity, and innovation, questions regarding its environmental impact loom large.…

20 hours ago

Trump’s Truth Social Makes Successful Market Debut

Shares in Donald Trump’s social media company rose about 16 percent after first day of…

20 hours ago