Will they/won’t they speculation has flourished since Google first made overtures towards the FCC with regards the 700MHz spectrum auction in January, and now the Wall Street Journal is claiming [registration required] that the search company’s participation is set to crank up a gear with a statement announcing their intent to bid expected on Friday.  The auction - for a slice of the wireless spectrum commonly described as “beach front” because of its rich support for high-speed data networks - demands a statement of intent to be declared by the 3rd December; previously analysts have been unsure whether Google intends to invest or merely push through the open-access provisos that would make competition in the cellular industry more straightforward.

Google is apparently expected to bid on the ‘C’ block, a 22MHz portion of the spectrum, which the FCC has already demanding a $4.6bn reserve for, according to the WSJ’s “people familiar with the matter.”  There is still uncertainty whether the company will be bidding to win or merely to satisfy the demand for participation their regulation demands have prompted.

[via mocoNews]