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Google moves into telecoms? - trying to build network, rather.

A free phone system, to rival Skype? With a built-in search engine? That's the tantalising prospect as Google keeps its cards close to its chest, but drops no hints. But... what is it really doing?

The hint that started this wasn't intentional. It's pretty much first-year journalism: 'Always see who advertises strange jobs!' - and in this case, when Google put up  a call on its website for a "strategic negotiator" to help the company to provide a "global backbone network" it caught the attention of The Times - who investigated, and decided that Google is planning a Skype operation.

Actually, Skype is pretty low on the list of more probable reasons for a backbone. The clue to what is really going on, is in that "backbone" word. But a Skype type operation is also likely to be on the cards - and far sooner.

The one thing Google doesn't have, which it certainly needs as part of its campaign to beat down all other advertising systems online, is "presence." Google knows all about you; Google AdSense tracks who is reading what advert, the Google search engine shows what you're trying to buy. But what it needs to know, is whether you're online, and awake.

Skype does this. Skype is the ultimate "presence" software - and it does voice as well - and so it's a pretty good bet that one day, Google will need a Skype type presence engine.

And the consultants are agreed: it's a neat idea. According to  Iain Thomson's report, Ovum's Julian Hewitt endorses it fully: ""What a sweet extension to Google's advertising-driven business model... the appeal for Google is obvious: search for something then 'click here' if you'd like to speak to the company that's selling what you're looking for. Google then collects a fee from the 'sponsor' for each voice connection."

Perfectly true. But you don't need a global backbone network to run presence. Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger, ICQ and AIM are all presence engines, and none of them requires a global backbone network. Neither does Skype.

So if Google is going to do a presence engine, which seems more than just likely, then this backbone is something quite different.

When Google describes the Times report as "pure speculation" it may well be half right. The question I'd be asking, if I were head of PR at Google, would be this: "Why on earth would someone leap from 'backbone' to 'presence' unless they knew something they shouldn't know?"

In other words,  the smart money says that Google Presence is a project with a high priority. The cynical money says that word of this has leaked out, and that some smart reporter has picked the advertisement for backbone negotiator as a hook to justify a story which, otherwise, doesn't stand up on any evidence.

Now, what do we think Google really wants to do with a backbone?