Reports say that Comcast, Cox, and Time Warner Cable will resell Sprint Nextel cellular service: Bring out the acronyms because the three MSOs (multiple system operators) or cable giants will become MVNOs, too, or mobile virtual network operators. They will, in turn, license or distribute their content over Sprint's network. All three companies have voice, data, and television services.
Let me spin this into another area, too: Wi-Fi hotspot networks. The cable firms have had some limited experience in building, partnering, and reselling access to various Wi-Fi networks, but none of it is comprehensive. Wayport now manages the largest single Wi-Fi footprint: between it and its partner SBC, they have many thousands of national locations which can be resold under various arrangements. Sprint already resells a 20,000+ hotspot network as an aggregator, which includes many of these locations, too.
It's a likely outcome that the cable companies will offer Wi-Fi/cell converged phones that will work over home networks; that's mentioned in this Reuters story. And it's also likely that the cable firms will offer 3G plans for data alongside voice plans.
Thus the cable companies also have every motivation to offer bundled roaming plans for Wi-Fi hotspots using its own and Wayport and SBC's network alongside a 3G data plan. This starts to look a lot like SBC's own convergence plan with Cingular.
The one stumbling block might be that SBC wouldn't allow the cable firms to aggregate SBC's hotspots, but I'm not sure whether SBC has any good motivation to restrict that kind of access.
Update: The deal is done and also includes Advance/Newhouse as a fourth cable partner. Adelphia customers will be included as they become part of Time-Warner and Comcast networks shortly. Charter and Cablevision aren't party to this deal, but it's possible they will join on.
No mention of wireless data in the news story, whether 3G or Wi-Fi.