You make an interesting point because here Verizon and ATT are local telcos as well so they can potentially cannibalize some of their own customer based in their serving areas, but both have had wired broadband service options in their serving areas which as stalled in terms of growth over the past few years. So I think they are looking at wireless, which is a cash cow for them, and probably figure they may win more customers from the cableco in their serving areas with a wireless option that does not require any installation or retrofit work at their homes. Bringing fiber into the home can be expensive, and DSL (copper) will not get you the speeds people are looking for these days for broadband service.

You are right, this is all a very U.S. skewed view of things. I do not know the European market but my guess is those providers are probably also looking for some revenue boost from 5G.