Verizon used to be GTE. They've dumped almost all the old GTE into Frontier. For landlines, about all they have left now are the old Baby Bells of NYNEX and Bell Atlantic. Because they are sure that New England will be a stronger growth market than is Texas and the rest of the Sunbelt.
I will say that Verizon FIOS was a bit more reliable than Frontier FIOS, although Verizon managed to unintentionally cut off service one time to an entire city of a quarter of a million folks.
As for Verizon wireless, they have only fully owned that since 2014. Before that, almost half of Verizon Wireless was owned by a British company.
Bell Atlantic and Nynex merged and became Verizon. Verizon then bought out GTE, giving Verizon a nationwide footprint.
Because they are sure that New England will be a stronger growth market than is Texas and the rest of the Sunbelt.