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Fair Value Measurements
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2011
Disclosure Text Block [Abstract] 
Fair Value Measurements

3. Fair Value Measurements

 

As of September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010, U.S. Cellular did not have any financial assets or liabilities that were required to be recorded at fair value in its Consolidated Balance Sheet in accordance with GAAP. However, U.S. Cellular has applied the provisions of fair value accounting for purposes of computing the fair value of financial instruments for disclosure purposes as displayed below.

   September 30, December 31,
   2011 2010
   Book Value  Fair Value Book Value Fair Value
(Dollars in thousands)           
Cash and cash equivalents$504,952 $504,952 $294,426 $294,426
Short-term investments (1)(2)           
 Certificates of deposit  —   —  250  250
 Government-backed securities (3) 110,761  110,761  146,336  146,336
Long-term investments (1)(4)           
 Government-backed securities (3) 45,297  45,445  46,033  46,034
Long-term debt (5) 875,997  854,677  863,657  850,374

  • Designated as held-to-maturity investments and recorded at amortized cost in the Consolidated Balance Sheet.
  • Maturities are less than twelve months from the respective balance sheet dates.
  • Includes U.S. treasuries and corporate notes guaranteed under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program.
  • At September 30, 2011, maturities range between 13 and 23 months.
  • Excludes capital lease obligations and current portion of Long-term debt.

 

The fair values of Cash and cash equivalents and Short-term investments approximate their book values due to the short-term nature of these financial instruments. The fair values of Long-term investments were estimated using quoted market prices for the individual issuances. The fair value of long-term debt, excluding capital lease obligations and the current portion of such long-term debt, was estimated using market prices for the 6.95% and 7.5% senior notes and discounted cash flow analysis for the 6.7% senior notes.

 

As of September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010, U.S. Cellular did not have nonfinancial assets or liabilities that required the application of fair value accounting for purposes of reporting such amounts in the Consolidated Balance Sheet.