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Property Plant And Equipment | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2015
Disclosure Text Block |
Property, Plant and Equipment | Note 9 Property, Plant and Equipment TDS’ Property, plant and equipment in service and under construction, and related accumulated depreciation and amortization, as of December 31, 2015 and 2014 were as follows:
| Useful Lives |  |  |  |  |  |
December 31, | (Years) |  | 2015 |  | 2014
(Dollars in thousands) |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Land | N/A |  | $ | 54,567 |  | $ | 52,946
Buildings | 5-40 |  |  | 506,486 |  |  | 480,028
Leasehold and land improvements | 1-30 |  |  | 1,137,414 |  |  | 1,130,468
Cable and wire | 15-35 |  |  | 1,688,606 |  |  | 1,628,782
Network and switching equipment | 5-13 |  |  | 2,278,425 |  |  | 2,239,176
Cell site equipment | 7-25 |  |  | 3,382,743 |  |  | 3,284,993
Office furniture and equipment | 3-10 |  |  | 586,975 |  |  | 634,853
Other operating assets and equipment | 3-12 |  |  | 205,132 |  |  | 204,625
System development | 1-7 |  |  | 1,459,437 |  |  | 1,319,930
Work in process | N/A |  |  | 220,276 |  |  | 218,243
|  |  |  | 11,520,061 |  |  | 11,194,044
Accumulated depreciation and amortization |  |  |  | (7,755,584) |  |  | (7,347,919)
|  |  | $ | 3,764,477 |  | $ | 3,846,125
Depreciation and amortization expense totaled $810.5 million, $797.6 million and $984.4 million in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. In 2015, 2014 and 2013, (Gain) loss on asset disposals, net included charges of $22.2 million, $26.5 million and $30.8 million, respectively, related to disposals of assets, trade-ins of older assets for replacement assets and other retirements of assets from service in the normal course of business.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for long-lived, physical assets used in the normal conduct of business and not intended for resale. Includes, but is not limited to, accounting policies and methodology, roll forwards, depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, including composite depreciation, accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, useful lives and method used, income statement disclosures, assets held for sale and public utility disclosures. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 210 -SubTopic 10 -Section S99 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.13-14) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 205 -SubTopic 20 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=51717284&loc=d3e1361-107760 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 360 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=51719941&loc=d3e2921-110230 Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 360 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6391035&loc=d3e2868-110229 + Details
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