Why no open source drivers for iwlwifi

It seems that the only proprietary file I have to install on Debian to get my laptop working for day to day use is the firmware-iwlwifi package. Why is it that after all these years, the LAN card works seamlessly with free software but we still need to download proprietary firmware to use the WLAN card? Is there any free software that works in place of firmware-iwlwifi? Or are we just stuck with it for now?