WASHINGTON — Communications regulators have cleared Google Inc (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) to bid in an upcoming auction of coveted wireless airwaves, according to auction documents released by the Federal Communications Commission on Monday. Google was among a list of potential bidders released by the FCC that have made a required up-front payment and have been cleared to take part in the high-stakes 700 megahertz wireless auction. The auction is scheduled to begin on January 24 and expected to raise at least $10 billion for the U.S. government from airwaves being returned by television broadcasters as they move to digital from analog signals in early 2009. As expected, the list of qualified bidders also included U.S. wireless providers AT&T Inc (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research), as well as ventures involving EchoStar Communications Corp (DISH.O: Quote, Profile, Research), Cablevision Systems Corp (CVC.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) co-founder Paul Allen. On a separate list of potential bidders that did not qualify for the auction was […]