• The Wall Street Journal, Friday, November 16, 2007 12 PM

Google, which already is running a test version of an advanced wireless network at its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, is gearing up to make a serious run at buying wireless spectrum in a Federal Communications Commission auction in January. If it succeeds in acquiring a chunk of the airwaves, it could provide its own mobile phone and Internet services.

The behind-the-scenes moves illustrate just how serious the Internet giant is about trying to reshape the wireless world. Its push could potentially expand the availability and decrease the cost of high-speed mobile Internet access to consumers and broaden the wireless applications they can use.

At the same time, Google's wireless projects could take it far from its core expertise, at a big potential cost in money and management attention. They could also antagonize telecom carriers, some of whom have relationships with the company, and other Google partners, which might view the wireless push as a competitive threat.

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