Cable versus telcos: the race between cellular and WiFi

We can think roughly of mobile, portable and fixed Internet access. It seems the cable and incumbent telephone companies have declared a, perhaps uneasy, truce with Verizon and AT&T focusing on mobile access, the cable companies focusing on fixed access, leaving portable access to go either way.

Do the cable folks hope to move in on portable and mobile users by rolling out WiFi hotspots while the phone companies put their radios on telephone poles and anywhere else they can? (Readers over a certain age will recall the short-lived Ricochet wireless network, which also used light poles).

It seems we have a bit of actual competition in this race to install wireless infrastructure.