Google to bid in U.S. airwaves auction

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Google Inc. plans to bid in an airwaves auction by the U.S. government that heralds a new era in wireless communication, including Web products.

Next month's auction will begin a new era in which scanning Web sites and watching streamed video on your telephone handset will become as common as making phone calls, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

Google announced Friday it would be one of the many companies bidding and analysts expect Verizon Communications Inc. to be another player, the Times reported.

The auctioned airwaves won't be available until early 2009, when television broadcasters give them up as they convert to all-digital signals.

The auction run by the Federal Communications Commission will take weeks to complete and is expected to raise more than $20 billion for the U.S. Treasury, the Times reported.