Kansas City claims title of “Most Connected City on Earth”

• May 17, 2016

Kansas City is now the most connected city on Earth, according to the city’s chief innovation officer.

The Missouri city claimed the title after Sprint Corporation launched its free Wi-Fi along the city’s new 2.2-mile streetcar route, putting 50 blocks and more than 22,000 residents under Wi-Fi, beating Barcelona, who previously held the title, with 30 blocks under Wi-Fi.

The Wi-Fi launch, along with the new streetcar, and the city’s downtown smart city lights, which help control traffic and dim or lighten depending on the time of the day, are all a part of Kansas City’s plans to become one of the world’s “Smartest Cities.”

Additionally, Kansas City has also benefited from being the first city in the nation to receive Google Fiber, and was recently chosen by Google once again to test the company’s wireless broadband capabilities.

Kansas City was also recently named as one of the top 10 cities in the U.S. for tech startup growth in 2016, and benefits from Missouri’s low operating costs, turnkey communications infrastructure and efficient access to global markets via convenient fiber.