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Property, Plant and Equipment | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2010
Notes To The Financial Statements [Abstract] |
Property, Plant and Equipment | NOTE 10 PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT Property, plant and equipment in service and under construction, and related accumulated depr eciation and amortization, as of December 31, 2010 and 2009 were as follows:
|  | Useful Lives |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| December 31, | (Years) |  | 2010 |  | 2009
| (Dollars in thousands) |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Land |  | N/A |  | $ | 26,791 |  |  | $ | 26,017 |
| Buildings |  | 20 |  |  | 317,474 |  |  |  | 300,285 |
| Leasehold and land improvements |  | 1-30 |  |  | 1,042,675 |  |  |  | 976,828 |
| Cell site equipment |  | 6-25 |  |  | 2,619,135 |  |  |  | 2,394,222 |
| Switching equipment |  | 1-8 |  |  | 943,843 |  |  |  | 862,826 |
| Office furniture and equipment |  | 3-5 |  |  | 610,434 |  |  |  | 549,871 |
| Other operating equipment |  | 5-25 |  |  | 323,411 |  |  |  | 302,643 |
| System development |  | 3-7 |  |  | 325,050 |  |  |  | 258,073 |
| Work in process |  | N/A |  |  | 131,724 |  |  |  | 174,197 |
|  |  |  |  |  | 6,340,537 |  |  |  | 5,844,962 |
| Accumulated depreciation and amortization |  |  |  |  | (3,766,015 | ) |  |  | (3,284,102 | )
|  |  |  |  | $ | 2,574,522 |  |  | $ | 2,560,860 |
D epreciation and amortiz ation expense totaled $559.0 million, $551.7 million and $558.3 million in 2010, 2009 and 2008, respectively. In 2010, 2009 and 2008, Loss on asset disposals, net included charges of $10.7 million, $16.2 million and $17.4 million, respectively, related to disposals of assets, trade-ins of older assets for replacement assets and other retirements of assets from service.

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- Definition Disclosure of long-lived, physical assets that are used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services and not intended for resale. Examples include land, building and production equipment. This disclosure may include property plant and equipment accounting policies and methodology, a schedule of property, plant and equipment gross, additions, deletions, transfers and other changes, depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, net, accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization expense and useful lives, income statement disclosures, assets held for sale and public utility disclosures. This element may be used as a single block of text to include the entire PPE disclosure, including data and tables. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher AICPA -Name Accounting Principles Board Opinion (APB) -Number 12 -Paragraph 5 + Details
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