The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Google is talking about investing in a high-speed undersea cable across the Pacific Ocean, further fueling the speculation about the search and software maker designs for the telecommunications market.

Clearly, Google wants to wield some control over the pipes through which data is sent to fortify its software and services portfolio.

But this latest theory, when combined with Google's intention to bid on 700 MHz spectrum and the rampant rumors that it is building a mobile phone, reinforces the notion that Google is going after a multibillion-dollar market for voice and data services.

This can't sit well with Verizon, Sprint and AT&T, which are also moving to build new cables to accommodate the growth in Internet and phone transmissions.

These companies are used to fending off their own kind, but they haven't faced an opponent as influential on the Internet as Google, which, with more than 50 percent of the search market, controls a lot of the data flow on the Internet. Google's emergence as a software provider is yet another dimension to be reckoned with.

Google commands search and is hoping to grab a healthy chunk of the market for Internet-based hosted software. If it is true that Google has designs on backing the installation of cables to support increased data, good for Google.

Owning the data pipes can support both Google's search and software practices and help the company support a mobile service provider strategy if it so desires. The company is protecting its own interests, so as an admirer of smart business practices, I say bravo.

One forward-looking scenario is scary, however, even if it may be far-fetched. What if Google, say, in 10 years, does in software and mobile what it did in search in its 10 years? That is, what if Google owns 50 percent of the hosted search market and half the market for wireless voice and data services?

Expect Microsoft to fight tooth and nail and the wireless carriers to lobby as many public interest groups and lawmakers it can to fight the Googlezilla. These companies are already paranoid, with Microsoft and AT&T proclaiming the Google-DoubleClick deal a monopoly.

For AT&T to complain about Google's moves in the online ad business, not exactly a phone carrier's specialty, you know AT&T is laterally targeting Google for the bigger picture. Thus, a move to get in on trans-Pacific cables will amplify the anxiety for Google's rivals.