GOOGLE, the internet search engine, is gearing up for a fresh assault on the telecoms industry with the launch of a free wireless internet service.

Google, which recently shook up the telecoms sector with the launch of a free web telephone service, Google Talk, has unveiled plans to offer Google Wi-Fi.

The service, which the company will fund through advertising, will allow users with suitable PCs to bypass traditional phone or cable connections for high-speed internet access.

Google said that the service would be offered only across the city of San Francisco, but analysts believe that the company is using the city, which has 700,000 residents, as a test-bed for a wider launch.

Jan Dawson, research director at Ovum, said: “There have been rumours about Google offering a wider wireless internet service, but it has been tight-lipped about it.”

Google is one of several big internet players aggressively pushing into territory traditionally dominated by the telecommunication providers.Ebay recently paid out £2.2 billion for Skype, the pioneering internet phone company.

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