Google has bolstered its presence in telecoms through the acquisition of GrandCentral Communications, the web-based phone service.

GrandCentral’s service allows users to integrate up to six existing home, work and mobile phone numbers and voice mailboxes into one account, which can be accessed from the web.

“This way, your phone number is tied to you, and not your location or job,” Google said on its blog.

It added in a statement: “We think GrandCentral's technology fits well into Google's efforts to provide services that enhance the collaborative exchange of information between our users.“

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Google has been increasingly active in telecoms, having launched a series of applications that work on mobile phones and its own internet telephony service, Google Talk.

Analysts have suggested that GrandCentral's technology may be used to unite Gmail, the group's e-mail service, with Google Talk, providing one desktop dashboard that can be used to manage voice, instant messaging and e-mail communications.

The web-based service could also be tied into Google's burgeoning corporate business.

The group recently began selling services including e-mail over the web to companies for a subscription fee.

The price of the acquisition was not disclosed.

GrandCentral rolled out its service in beta – or test – form in September.

The group was founded by Craig Walker and Vincent Paquet, formerly the chief executive and vice-president of business development and marketing, respectively, for Dialpad, the internet telephony group that Yahoo! bought in 2005.

Google said that it would continue to support GrandCentral’s present beta users, who use the service without charge.

Google has not determined a pricing plan for GrandCentral services after they leave the beta phase.

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