Google gigabit network going to Kansas City

IDG News Service - Kansas City, Kan., is the lucky winner of a 1Gbit/sec. broadband network that Google plans to build.

The search giant, which last year said it would choose a city in which to build such an ultra-high-speed network, hopes to start offering the service in 2012.

Google chose Kansas City for a number of reasons, it said. "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," Milo Medin, vice president, Access Services for Google, wrote in a blog post on Wednesday.

The plan must still be approved by the city's Board of Commissioners, he said.

Google has said the network would serve 50,000 to 500,000 people with connectivity offered at what it called a competitive price. It initially planned to make a choice by the end of last year and said it might choose a number of locations.

Almost 1,100 cities responded to Google. The interest was so great that one city, Topeka, Kan., changed its name to Google for one month.

Google has said that its goal in building the network is to experiment with next-generation applications, new deployment techniques and open access.

Nancy Gohring covers mobile phones and cloud computing for The IDG News Service. Follow Nancy on Twitter at @idgnancy. Nancy's e-mail address is Nancy_Gohring@idg.com