Google just sent out invitations to a “special event” in Kansas City on July 26 that is undoubtedly the launch of its much-anticipated fiber-to-the-home network, Gigaom reports.

Google announced plans to build the gigabit network back in February of 2010 and thousands of municipalities competed to be the future home of the planned network.

In March, it selected Kansas City as the first spot for its test of a network running fiber-optic cables directly to homes, and delivering Internet speeds roughly 100 times faster than the national broadband average.

Google said it wanted to build out the network so it could see what people might do with a full gigabit connection. Hopefully at the event we’ll also learn more on what Google plans to charge for access to the network as well as if it plans to share it with other ISPs.

Google Inc.  says it will tell us more next week, Kansas City Star reports.

There have also been strong indications — through license and patent applications — that Google will bundle Internet hook-ups with a cable-like television service. Analysts have said that Google will need a TV package to lure customers from their existing cable subscriptions.

Google announced more than two years ago that it would build a network somewhere to deliver speeds of one gigabit per second — or 100 times faster uploads and 1,000 times faster downloads than most consumers can buy.