There’s no denying that Sprint is one of my favorite carriers and Google is hands-down the best search engine. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when the two companies announced their partnership.

I wasn’t aware that there had been some tensions between Google and AT&T, were you?

Early last year, the chief executive of AT&T, Edward Whitacre, shot off his mouth about how Google was getting a “free ride” on “his” network, and perhaps how a company like that should be nicked for higher fees. Ever since then, Google has been stewing in its own juices over the notion.

Ouch. If I read that correctly, Whitacre seemed to be saying that Google is mooching off of the AT&T network for nothing. It’s obvious that Google already pays millions of dollars for network access just to be on the Internet; I bet right there and then, a light bulb must of gone off in their collective head that they are at the mercy of AT&T. Which might explain Google’s buying spree of unused black fiber around the world.

Remember that this is all speculative – for now. So what if Google really partners with Sprint and buys up the 700-MHz spectrum, which many in the business consider as beach-front property because it can penetrate walls with ease? Wow, think of the possibilities if these two giants came together as one – a Sprint-Google network to offer a one-stop-shop solution for wireless and mobile services married with Google search and all the Google Applications?

So how would this affect AT&T? Google is no longer dependent on AT&T to be on the Internet plus the possibility of demanding AT&T pay them for carriage of services. Of course, this would only happen if Google maintains its dominance in search.

How long would AT&T last as an ISP with this sort of handicap? Not long is my guess.

I agree 100% that AT&T wouldn’t last long with Google having such a network/software advantage, and it puts the traditional telco’s concerns over the search company’s FCC provisos into even greater context. Not only would they potentially be competing with another cellular services operator - or, if Google’s interest in farming out the spectrum to interested third-parties works out, competing with multiple niche providers - but fighting on content and information management, with Google bringing its expertise honed in the big bad world of the grown-up Internet to a market where carriers historically have had trouble creating and selling data-based products to cautious subscribers.