Kansas city changes name -- temporarily -- to Google

A city in Kansas seeking to be a test hub for a high-speed broadband network being built by Google has temporarily changed its name to... Google.

Topeka Mayor William Bunten issued a proclamation declaring that, for the month of March, the Kansas capital would be known as "Google, Kansas -- the capital city of fiber optics."

The official city website, Topeka.org, welcomes visitors to "The City of Google" -- written in the large colorful letters the Internet search giant is known for -- and includes a link to the mayor's proclamation.

Google announced last month that it planned to build experimental, ultra high-speed broadband networks that would deliver Internet speeds 100 times faster than those of today.

The Web search and advertising giant said the envisioned one-gigabit-per-second networks would be built in "a small number of trial locations" in the United States."

Communities seeking to take part in the experiment have until March 26 to make their interest known to Google. The selected communities will be announced later this year.

(c) 2010 AFP