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Variable Interest Entities | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2012
Disclosure Text Block |
Variable Interest Entities | 10. Variable Interest Entities (VIEs) Consolidated VIEs As of March 31, 2012, U.S. Cellular holds a variable interest in and consolidates the following VIEs under GAAP: Aquinas Wireless L.P. (“Aquinas Wireless”); King Street Wireless L.P. (“King Street Wireless”) and King Street Wireless, Inc., the general partner of King Street Wireless; Barat Wireless L.P. (“Barat Wireless”) and Barat Wireless, Inc., the general partner of Barat Wireless; and Carroll Wireless L.P. (“Carroll Wireless”) and Carroll PCS, Inc., the general partner of Carroll Wireless. The power to direct the activities of the VIEs that most significantly impact their economic performance is shared. Specifically, the general partner of each of these VIEs has the exclusive right to manage, operate and control the limited partnerships and make all decisions to carry on the business of the partnerships; however, the general partner of each partnership needs consent of the limited partner, a U.S. Cellular subsidiary, to sell or lease certain licenses, to make certain large expenditures, admit other partners or liquidate the limited partnerships. Although the power to direct the activities of the VIEs is shared, U.S. Cellular has a disproportionate level of exposure to the variability associated with the economic performance of the VIEs, indicating that U.S. Cellular is the primary beneficiary of the VIEs in accordance with GAAP. Accordingly, these VIEs are consolidated. U.S. Cellular's capital contributions and advances made to these VIEs totaled $6.8 million in the three months ended March 31, 2011. There were no capital contributions or advances made to these VIEs in 2012. From time to time, the FCC conducts auctions through which additional spectrum is made available for the provision of wireless services. U.S. Cellular participated in spectrum auctions i ndirectly through its interests in Aquinas Wireless, King Street Wireless, Barat Wireless and Carroll Wireless, collectively, the “limited partnerships.” Each limited partnership participated in and was awarded spectrum licenses in one of four separate spectrum auctions (FCC Auctions 78, 73, 66, and 58). Each limited partnership qualified as a “designated entity” and thereby was eligible for bidding credits with respect to licenses purchased in accordance with the rules defined by the FCC for each auction. In most cases, the bidding credits resulted in a 25% discount from the gross winning bid. The following table presents the classification of the consolidated VIEs' assets and liabilities in U.S. Cellular's Consolidated Balance Sheet.
|  | March 31, |  | December 31,
| 2012 |  | 2011
(Dollars in thousands) |  |  |  |  |
Assets |  |  |  |  |
| Cash | $ | 4,115 |  | $ | 12,086
| Other current assets |  | 173 |  |  | 47
| Licenses |  | 485,380 |  |  | 483,059
| Property, plant and equipment |  | 12,728 |  |  | 9,450
| Other assets and deferred charges |  | 70 |  |  | 153
| Total assets | $ | 502,466 |  | $ | 504,795
Liabilities |  |  |  |  |
| Current liabilities | $ | 227 |  | $ | 957
| Deferred liabilities and credits |  | 1,566 |  |  | —
| Total liabilities | $ | 1,793 |  | $ | 957
Other Related Matters U.S. Cellular may agree to make additional capital contributions and/or advances to the VIEs discussed above and/or to their general partners to provide additional funding for the development of licenses granted in the various auctions. U.S. Cellular may finance such amounts with a combination of cash on hand, borrowings under its revolving credit agreement and/or long-term debt. There is no assurance that U.S. Cellular will be able to obtain additional financing on commercially reasonable terms or at all to provide such financial support. These VIEs are in the process of developing long-term business plans. The se entitie s were formed to participate in FCC auctions of wireless spectrum and to fund, establish, and provide wireless service with respect to any FCC licenses won in the auctions. As such, these entities have risks similar to the business risks described in the “Risk Factors” in U.S. Cellular's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011. U.S. Cellular began offering fourth generation Long-term Evolution (“4G LTE”) service in certain cities within its service areas during the first quarter of 2012 and has plans to expand the deployment of 4G LTE to cover over 50 percent of customers by the end of 2012. U.S. Cellular currently provides 4G LTE service in conjunction with King Street Wireless.

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- Definition Describes how the entity aggregates Variable Interest Entities (VIE) for disclosure purposes, distinguishing between (a) VIEs that are not consolidated because the enterprise is not the primary beneficiary but has a variable interest and (b) VIEs that are consolidated. + References No definition available. + Details
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