This is most definitely part of it. Google dipped its toes into the ISP world with Google Fiber and made a big splash. Now Apple is starting to feel confident t

This is most definitely part of it. Google dipped its toes into the ISP world with Google Fiber and made a big splash. Now Apple is starting to feel confident they can deploy their own phone service. They can just deploy their service using current infrastructure (already happens a lot in Europe with low-cost ISPs). And they have such weight that they will eventually force ISPs to do their bidding, lest Apple leaves them. You wouldn't want to be the network where iPhones are not supported.