Internet search giant Google could be planning to enter the UK broadband sector, it has been claimed.

A report in the Guardian suggests that the company may be seeking to take advantage of Ofcom's proposed auction of the mobile phone spectrum.

The communications watchdog revealed yesterday that it is planning to take back a third of the mobile phone spectrum currently owned by O2 and Vodafone and it is thought the spectrum could be auctioned off in 2009 to open up the wireless broadband market.

Google is already known to be interested in bidding on spectrum in the US and there are rumours that a 'Gphone', designed to rival the recently-launched iPhone, is also in the pipeline.

The company has already proposed an open standards-based broadband network in the US, the Guardian reports, and a similar approach could be taken by the company in the UK.