Your analysis is wrong because the subscriber count excludes Fios subscribers in areas that they sold to Frontier while the $20 billion includes them. The costs

Your analysis is wrong because the subscriber count excludes Fios subscribers in areas that they sold to Frontier while the $20 billion includes them. The costs also vary depending on subscriber density. Furthermore, the actual installation cost is $750 in my state according to Verizon: http://www.buffalonews.com/business/verizon-still-cant-justify-expanding-its-fios-service-20140421 http://www.buffalonews.com/business/verizon-still-cant-justi... I recall that number was ~$1000 9 years ago. I find it hard to believe that Verizon did not recoup that over 9 years. That is less than $10 a month over that time frame. My household paid $10 to $20 a month more for higher speed tiers over that 9 years. Those cost Verizon almost nothing so it is reasonable to conclude that they recouped the initial installation cost in this instance. Also, Verizon has two tiers of special rates. One for new sign ups at locations that have already been wired and one for new sign ups at locations that have not. Mine is one that has been wired. Entering into an arrangement where the income from providing service is less than the day to day expenses of providing it before including one time installation costs even with a contract period makes no sense, so I do not think that Verizon is doing that. Since the one time installation costs are paid, they would have been making money even at the lower rate in my case under that assumption. Obviously, it would not be as much, but I am okay with that. I realize that individuals' calculations often underestimate ISP expenses. However, my case is one where such calculations should apply. I also realize that wireline margins are low in general. I did not mean to state that the profitability of my particular Fios connection was the norm. I only meant to say that there are instances of old lines where the margins far exceed the average. That is why I said the connection was setup "nearly 10 years prior". The profitability of the connection would have been a very different matter otherwise.