Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and Google Inc. won clearance to bid for airwaves in a U.S. government auction next week, a sale that aims to spur advances in mobile phones and may raise as much as $15 billion.

Vulcan Spectrum Management Inc., the company backed by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen, and MetroPCS Communications Inc. are also among the 214 qualified bidders, the Federal Communications Commission said today in a notice on its Web site.

The auction pits AT&T and Verizon, the two biggest U.S. wireless carriers, against newcomers such as Google, which wants to sell more advertising on phones. Wireless carriers plan to use the spectrum to offer more high-speed data services, such as video and music downloads.

Frontline Wireless LLC, a startup that sought to build a nationwide network shared with public-safety agencies, was among 27 companies that didn't qualify to bid, the FCC said. Frontline, whose founders included former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, shut down last week.

The FCC will start the auction of almost 1,200 spectrum licenses on Jan. 24, according to the notice. Companies can place bids through the FCC Web site or by telephone.

There will be two bidding rounds on the first day of the auction, and three rounds the second day. FCC auctions of this size typically last weeks, with the number of daily bidding rounds increasing as low bidders drop out and the pool of auction participants shrinks.

Anonymous Bidding

The commission plans to announce the highest bid amount for each license at the end of every auction round, without releasing the names of the bidders. Companies that don't place the highest bids will have a chance to top those offers in later rounds. Bidding will continue until there are no more offers for any license.

The FCC will conduct a ``mock auction'' on Jan. 22 to let qualified bidders familiarize themselves with the bidding system.

About a third of the spectrum will be subject to so-called open-access rules, so long as bids reach at least $4.6 billion. The rules, favored by Google, require the winning bidder to open the airwaves to any legal device or program. Today, U.S. wireless carriers typically control which devices connect to their networks.

Google, owner of the most popular Internet search engine, may offer $4.6 billion just to ensure the open-access rules take effect, then let another bidder top its offer, said Stifel Nicolaus & Co. analyst Blair Levin.

Verizon's Chances

Verizon Wireless, jointly owned by New York-based Verizon Communications Inc. and Newbury, England-based Vodafone Group Plc, has the best chance of winning the open-access airwaves, Levin said today in an interview.

Still, ``Google could surprise us'' by emerging as the highest bidder, Levin said. That's because the Mountain View, California-based company ``has the financial resources do to whatever it wants,'' he said.

Separately, the FCC sought public comment on whether to bar mobile-phone carriers from interfering with customers' text messages. Eight consumer groups requested the ban last month, saying wireless providers have ``arbitrarily'' blocked messages from competitors and organizations they find controversial.

Carriers say such a ban would prevent them from shielding subscribers from hundreds of millions of unsolicited advertisements in text messages.

To contact the reporter on this story: Molly Peterson in Washington at mpeterson9@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 14, 2008 19:38 EST