UK regulator Ofcom shook up the wireless market yesterday by announcing that it wanted to take some spectrum back from Vodafone and O2 in order to auction it off. The goal, as in the upcoming US spectrum auction, is to jumpstart competition and offer access to a prime, low-frequency band. That in itself is big news for the UK market, but you know what make this story even better? That’s right, a dash of fresh-ground Google.

The Guardian is reporting that Google is already looking to bid in the newly-announced UK spectrum auction for some prime 900MHz licenses. That’s either some seriously timely reporting or a load of bollocks, given that the auction plan isn’t even finalized and was announced only yesterday. The fact that the news is utterly unsourced doesn’t help, either, but this is Google, which means that no speculation is too wild to be printed.

Let’s take a step back. Ofcom has taken a look at several licenses awarded to mobile operators in the 900MHz and 1800MHz bands. These licenses have been restricted only to 2G operations, and Ofcom wants to remove those restrictions and allow full 3G services.

As part of this “liberalisation,” Ofcom also wants to see more competition for UK mobile services and also proposed that “some spectrum currently used by Vodafone and O2 for 2G services should be released for use by others in future.” Should the plan come to fruition, Ofcom wants to auction off enough spectrum to allow three new companies to access the 900MHz band, the best one available due to its ability to penetrate walls and travel great distances.

Read full story.