Update: December 16, 2010   The 1,100 U.S. communities that submitted applications to receive broadband connectivity from Google will have to wait a bit longer than expected to find out if they won. When the Internet giant announced its plan in February to build a network supporting 1 Gb/s speeds per customer, the company said it would name the winning community (or communities) by year end. But in a blog post yesterday, Google’s newly appointed vice president of access services Milo Medin said the company would not meet its original target date. click Google Award Delayed to read the report.

Update: August 31, 2010   NORTHFIELD, MINN. (August 10, 2010) — The FCC's assertions that the U.S. is not making reasonable broadband progress and that over 1,000 counties are un-served has been validated by the first database of its kind, BroadBand Scout from data and analytics company ID Insight. click Broadband Scout Report to read the report.

Update: July 15, 2010   This just in...the winner of the Google microtrenching Olympics is....DITCH WITCH out of Perry, OK...just 60 miles North of OKC click Google Olympics to get started.

Update: July 10, 2010   In an exclusive interview with Google Chief Technology Advocate, Michael Jones, it now appears that there may be more than one winner -- good news to the 1100 cities that want the prize Click TelecomTV Interview to get started.

Update: July 9, 2010  Watch an informative video clip from an invitation-only fiber convention held in April shortly following the close of the Google submissions. Click FibreFete presentation to get started.

Update: April 5, 2010  Show your support and help tell Google that you want Fiber to your home. Add the BbBB Badge to your website/social networking now, click Show Support to the get started.

Update: March 27, 2010  The deadline for submitting your application to Google has now passed.  Please continue to visit this site to learn how you can be part of our ongoing efforts to support this project and show Google how much the people of the region want to be selected as one of their trial fiber-to-the-home sites.

On February 10th, 2010, Google Inc. called on communities to apply for the building of an ultra high-speed fiber optic Internet system. The possibilities of this new system, because of the speed available, would open new doors for our four state region.

Many municipalities are applying independently, but our region is linking together to forge a new level of community. Please take the time to learn more about the capabilities of the proposed Google system, connect with other, and get involved. The deadline for the application is March 26th, 2010. The success of this project is in the hands of our community.

Our Heartland Giga-Region Initiative includes defined metropolitan and micropolitan areas, towns, villages and rural residents across six counties in three states. The diversity of our Region also includes nine Native American tribes, the largest concentration of individual sovereign nations in the U.S. When 280,000 people in nine sovereign nations, six-counties and three states are connected by giga-bit internet service, it truly is Broadband Beyond Borders.

If you have any questions about this initiative, or would like to express any comments, please feel free to contact us.