Why would you sum it up instead of looking at percentages?[1] AT&T’s profit margin is under 10%. For wireline, Verizon’s is under 5%. Eliminating the profits isn’t going to change

[1] I know why Sanders does it, because he is catering to people who are outraged at the thought of “billions in profit” even if that only represents a single-digit percent of revenue. Indeed, if you go read Sanders’ proposal, he makes a point of stating how AT&T’s CEO made $33 million, as if that isn’t a drop in the bucket for a company that spends $140 billion a year on opex.