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Wireless Licenses, Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2023
Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract] |
Wireless Licenses, Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets |
Note 4. Wireless Licenses, Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets
Wireless Licenses The carrying amounts of Wireless licenses are as follows:
| (dollars in millions)
At December 31, | 2023 |  | 2022
Wireless licenses | $ | 155,667 |  |  | $ | 149,796 |
During 2023 and 2022, we made payments of $4.3 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively, for obligations related to clearing costs and accelerated clearing incentives for wireless licenses in connection with Auction 107. During 2022, we made additional payments of $310 million related to accelerated clearing agreements for C-Band spectrum. See Note 3 for additional information. At December 31, 2023 and 2022, approximately $15.0 billion and $41.7 billion, respectively, of wireless licenses were under development for commercial service for which we were capitalizing interest costs. We recorded approximately $1.4 billion and $1.7 billion of capitalized interest on wireless licenses for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. During 2023 and 2022, we renewed various wireless licenses in accordance with FCC regulations with an average renewal period of 10 years and 15 years, respectively. See Note 1 for additional information. As discussed in Note 1, we test our wireless licenses for potential impairment annually or more frequently if impairment indicators are present. In 2023 and 2022, we performed a qualitative impairment assessment, which indicated it was more likely than not that the fair value of our wireless licenses remained above their carrying amount and, therefore, did not result in an impairment. Our strategy requires significant capital investments primarily to acquire wireless spectrum, put the spectrum into service, provide additional capacity for growth in our networks, invest in the fiber that supports our businesses, evolve and maintain our networks and develop and maintain significant advanced information technology systems and data system capabilities. Goodwill Changes in the carrying amount of Goodwill are as follows:
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | (dollars in millions)
| Consumer |  | Business |  |  |  |  |  | Other |  | Total
Balance at January 1, 2022 | $ | 21,042 |  |  | $ | 7,515 |  |  |  |  |  |  | $ | 46 |  |  | $ | 28,603 |
Acquisitions(1) | 100 |  |  | — |  |  |  |  |  |  | — |  |  | 100 |
Reclassifications, adjustments and others(2) | — |  |  | (13) |  |  |  |  |  |  | (19) |  |  | (32) |
Balance at December 31, 2022(3) | 21,142 |  |  | 7,502 |  |  |  |  |  |  | 27 |  |  | 28,671 |
Acquisitions | 35 |  |  | — |  |  |  |  |  |  | — |  |  | 35 |
Verizon Business Group goodwill impairment | — |  |  | (5,841) |  |  |  |  |  |  | — |  |  | (5,841) |
Reclassifications, adjustments and other(4) | — |  |  | 5 |  |  |  |  |  |  | (27) |  |  | (22) |
Balance at December 31, 2023(5) | $ | 21,177 |  |  | $ | 1,666 |  |  |  |  |  |  | $ | — |  |  | $ | 22,843 |
(1) Changes in goodwill due to acquisitions is related to TracFone. See Note 3 for additional information. (2) Includes a goodwill impairment charge of $16 million related to an early stage development company presented within Other, recorded in Selling, general and administrative expense in our consolidated statement of income for the year ended December 31, 2022. (3) Goodwill balances are net of an accumulated impairment charge of $16 million presented within both Other and Total at December 31, 2022. (4) Includes a goodwill impairment charge of $27 million related to non-strategic businesses presented within Other, recorded in Selling, general and administrative expense in our consolidated statement of income for the year ended December 31, 2023. (5) Goodwill balances are net of accumulated impairment charges of $5.8 billion, $43 million and $5.9 billion presented within Business, Other and Total, respectively, at December 31, 2023. During the fourth quarter of 2023, we performed a qualitative impairment assessment for our Consumer reporting unit. Our qualitative impairment assessment indicated that it was more likely than not that the fair value of our Consumer reporting unit exceeded its carrying value and, therefore, did not result in an impairment. During the fourth quarter of 2023, we performed a quantitative impairment assessment for our Business reporting unit given the low excess of fair value over carrying value identified in our prior annual impairment assessment and increased competitive and market pressures experienced throughout 2023. These pressures have resulted in lower projected cash flows primarily driven by secular declines in wireline services and products across our Business customer groups. In connection with Verizon’s annual budget process in the fourth quarter, leadership completed a comprehensive five-year strategic planning review of our Business reporting unit resulting in declines in financial projections driven by market dynamics as compared to the prior year five-year strategic planning cycle. The revised projections were used as a key input into the Business reporting unit’s annual goodwill impairment test performed in the fourth quarter. In addition, changes in the macroeconomic environment, including interest rate and inflationary pressures have also impacted the fair value of the reporting unit. We applied a combination of a market approach and a discounted cash flow method, as a form of the income approach, reflecting current assumptions and inputs, including our revised projections, discount rate and expected growth rates, which resulted in the determination that the fair value of our Business reporting unit was less than its carrying amount. As a result, in the fourth quarter of 2023, we recorded a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of approximately $5.8 billion ($5.8 billion after-tax) in our consolidated statement of income. We performed a qualitative impairment assessment for our Consumer reporting unit in 2022. Our qualitative assessment indicated that it was more likely than not that the fair value of our Consumer reporting unit exceeded its carrying value and, therefore, did not result in an impairment. We performed a quantitative impairment assessment for our Business reporting unit in 2022. At the goodwill impairment measurement date of October 31, 2022, our quantitative assessment indicated that the fair value for our Business reporting unit exceeded its carrying amount and, therefore, did not result in an impairment. Other Intangible Assets The following table displays the composition of Other intangible assets, net as well as the respective amortization period:
|  |  |  |  |  |  | (dollars in millions)
|  |  |  |  | 2023 |  |  |  |  |  | 2022
At December 31, | Gross Amount |  | Accumulated Amortization |  | Net Amount |  | Gross Amount |  | Accumulated Amortization |  | Net Amount
Customer lists (5 to 13 years) | $ | 4,335 |  |  | $ | (2,193) |  |  | $ | 2,142 |  |  | $ | 4,335 |  |  | $ | (1,646) |  |  | $ | 2,689 |
Non-network internal-use software (7 years) | 25,524 |  |  | (17,949) |  |  | 7,575 |  |  | 23,421 |  |  | (16,397) |  |  | 7,024 |
Other (4 to 25 years) | 2,656 |  |  | (1,316) |  |  | 1,340 |  |  | 2,806 |  |  | (1,058) |  |  | 1,748 |
Total | $ | 32,515 |  |  | $ | (21,458) |  |  | $ | 11,057 |  |  | $ | 30,562 |  |  | $ | (19,101) |  |  | $ | 11,461 |
The amortization expense for Other intangible assets was as follows:
Years | (dollars in millions)
2023 | $ | 2,687 |
2022 | 2,507 |
2021 | 2,087 |
Estimated annual amortization expense for Other intangible assets is as follows:
Years | (dollars in millions)
2024 | $ | 2,640 |
2025 | 2,356 |
2026 | 2,116 |
2027 | 1,569 |
2028 | 1,163 |

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