Google Inc. (GOOG) Has Initial Success in K.C. Fiber Project

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has established a super-speed broadband laboratory in Kansas City, and its Google Fiber project is apparently off to a rousing start, as the company announced this week that 180 of 202 districts in Kansas City have signed up for the Google Fiber broadband Internet project, which would boast an unprecedented 1 gigabyte-per-second Internet speed.

After a six-week campaign, Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has surpassed its expectations with this project. In order for the city to qualify for Google Fiber wiring, a certain number of zones and a percentage of people in each zone signs up and pays a $10 deposit, then Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) would then commit  to wiring libraries, schools and community buildings and become the city’s internet service provider (ISP).

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) will have several package options for residential customers, which will include wiring for 1GBps broadband with a router, while another package will include digital TV and a Nexus tablet computer.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is due to release final information on the “fiberzones” for the project and is expected to have the first connections in place and operational by the end of 2012. The project was designed, according to a Google official, to increase broadband speeds in the country – he claimed that government regulations have slowed devlopment of faster Internet speeds in the U.S., which is actually slower than other developed countries. Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG0 work on this high-speed project is apparently bearing fruit on the competition front, as Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE:TWC) recently announced that it was going to invest $25 million to provide 1 Gbps connections to lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. A repsonse to Google’s work? Well, let’s just say it’s an interesting coincidence.

While it looks like it’ll be set up on paper-width margins initially, Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) seems to be enthusiastic about being on the cutting-edge of broadband speeds and using this as a launchpad into competing with the likes Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE:TWC), Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) and others in Internet service provision, which has been very territorial in many parts of the country. If this super-fast broadband takes off as a viable opportunity for consumer,s this could be a huge win not just for Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) but also for investors like hedge-fund manager Chase Coleman of Tiger Global Management LLC.