Google has announced that it's officially considering Oklahoma City, Jacksonville and Tampa as the latest launch markets for Google Fiber. The company says it has started preliminary talks with all three cities' leaders about the logistical challenges of delivering the company's ultra-fast gigabit network to broad swaths of these markets.

Cities start by consulting the Google Fiber city checklist (pdf) to begin the process of sharing city infrastructure details, but they also need to make sure they're clearing any and all bureaucratic hurdles to bringing much-needed competition to town.

"These growing tech-hubs have a strong entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to small business growth," Google said in a blog post.

"Their list of accolades is long—from Jacksonville’s title as a top 10 city for tech jobs, to Tampa Bay’s #2 spot on the list of best cities for young entrepreneurs, to Oklahoma City’s recognition as the #1 city to launch a business."

Like a similar announcement made by Google back in September regarding Irvine, Louisville and San Diego, there's a small chance these cities won't see service. Since there's a long line of cities throwing themselves at Google for a chance at better broadband competition, cities don't have much leeway when it comes to being difficult in (or even just making demands during) contract negotiations.

Oklahoma City, Jacksonville and Tampa join San Diego, Louisville, Portland and Irvine as possible launch markets. That's of course on top of existing Provo, Kansas City and Austin live markets, and currently-underway builds in San Antonio, Salt Lake City, Raleigh/Durham, Nashville, Atlanta, and Charlotte. All markets get symmetrical gigabit broadband for $70 (with no caps or fees), gigabit broadband and TV for $130, or the option of symmetrical 5 Mbps service for "free" after a $300 install fee.

While Google's build progress is marginally glacial, there's enough cities currently underway at this point that Google Fiber could actually have a relatively formidable presence by 2017 or so. What was once seen as a relatively unserious experimental flirtation by many (myself included) is slowly but surely becoming decidedly less so.