FTR isn’t worth much these days. I’m really surprised a company like Comcast hasn’t plunked down an insulting but irresistible offer and taken the place over.
Consider this: A large cable MSO could easily come in and migrate a large portion of the customers over to their cable network, providing much better service, then use the circuit capacity to bring cable transport to areas that were previously cost prohibitive to build a HFC cable system in. They’d have the pole attachment permits and right of way easements with conduit in the ground already.
The FTR subscriber base would benefit by faster data, a better video offering and reliable dial tone. The cable MSO would pickup a ton of new customers at a bargain basement price. They would get all the local office locations and fiber into areas which they could use to augment their transport capacity with redundancy and reach otherwise unreachable areas. They’d gain an edge in residential and enterprise serviceability and there would be surplus real estate to get rid of. They would be able to operate more efficiently without the incumbent union employees (since they’d migrate off the legacy copper and FiOS plant) and have a better bottom line. If I was a dead weight employee only hanging on, due to seniority, I’d be worried. This is a very possible future for many of the old ILEC properties from multiple operators. There’s a reason sold them. They are dying on the vine.