Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

NOTE 11 PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

Property, plant and equipment in service and under construction, and related accumulated depreciation and amortization, as of December 31, 2011 and 2010 were as follows:

	Useful Lives
December 31,	(Years)	2011			2010
(Dollars in thousands)
Land	N/A	$	30,807		$	26,791
Buildings	20		330,925			317,474
Leasehold and land improvements	1-30		1,129,818			1,048,278
Cell site equipment	6-25		2,874,397			2,676,878
Switching equipment	1-8		1,113,780			991,934
Office furniture and equipment	3-5		570,776			520,756
Other operating assets and equipment	5-25		127,253			120,586
System development	3-7		545,193			471,334
Work in process	N/A		285,500			166,506
			7,008,449			6,340,537
Accumulated depreciation and amortization			(4,218,147	)		(3,766,015	)
		$	2,790,302		$	2,574,522

Depreciation and amortization expense totaled $565.1 million, $559.0 million and $551.7 million in 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively.

In 2011, 2010 and 2009, (Gain) loss on asset disposals and exchanges, net included charges of $9.9 million, $10.7 million and $16.2 million, respectively, related to disposals of assets, trade-ins of older assets for replacement assets and other retirements of assets from service.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for 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, buildings, machinery and equipment, and other types of furniture and equipment including, but not limited to, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment and software. 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.

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