Missouri suburbs wait and wait for Google Fiber deal

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Google’s plans for stretching its TV and light-speed Internet service across the Kansas City market include deals with more than a dozen cities, but gaping holes exist -- especially in the Missouri suburbs.

In Overland Park (KS), Google responded to a momentary hesitation from the city council by putting off, indefinitely, efforts to stitch the prosperous suburb into the fold of Google Fiber. The other unmistakable gap in the market is marked by working-class Independence. The Jackson County suburb’s 115,000-plus residents could go a long way toward giving Google a better return on the investment it’s made to build a network and string fiber optic lines directly to homes. Yet Google says it never opened talks with Independence officials and is not on the verge of doing so. “We hope to be able to expand to more communities in the future, but for now we’re focusing our energy and resources on engineering, designing, and building a new fiber network for the communities” that already have deals with Google, company spokeswoman Jenna Wandres said.


Missouri suburbs wait and wait for Google Fiber deal