Google Fiber for Kansas City (Kansas), more towns to follow

Google Fiber has chosen Kansas City (Kansas) for its first (or: second) project, but the first Google Fiber for Communities (not be mistaken with nearby Kansas City, Missouri). Here are some details, and here are the specs, which are few, so far:

• Population: 146,000.
• Service launch: early 2012.
• Partners: Kauffmann Foundation, KCNet, University of Kansas Medical Center.
• Service will be free to schools.

Google adds: "We’ll also be looking closely at ways to bring ultra high-speed Internet to other cities across the country."

Short look back at the entire project:

• Feb. 10, 2010: launch; target 50-500k people, open network, 1 Gb/s, one or more towns, RfI through March 26, 2010. Winner t.b.a. toward the end of 2010. Google dismisses plans to be an ISP itself, so it should be wholesale-only.
• March 26, 2010: RfI closes, 1,078 (1,077?) applications, over 194,000 comments.
• July 13, 2010: website Google Fiber for Communities opens.
• July 14, 2010: micro-trenching competition.
• October 21, 2010: separate from the Communities project, Google plans a network in Stanford, at the university campus (850 homes).
• December 13, 2010: Sonic.net is invited to operate the Stanford network; open access.
• December 15, 2010: selection delayed, Milo Medin named VP of Access Services.

Looking forward, what is left open?

• Technology: PON or Active Ethernet?
• Business model: wholesale only? Passive assets only, or active network as well?
• Service provision: who will sign up as service providers?
• More generally: Google plans to find out the best way to do the job.
• More cities: theoretically, another 350,000 people could be brought into the project.
• Google also plans to find out what the effects (economic, social, etc.) will be.