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Subsequent Events | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2012
Disclosure Text Block |
Subsequent Events | 15. Subsequent Events Auction 901 Mobility Funds On September 27, 2012, the FCC conducted a single round, sealed bid, reverse auction to award up to $300 million in one-time Mobility Fund Phase I support to successful bidders that commit to provide 3G, or better, wireless service in areas designated as unserved by the FCC. This auction was designated by the FCC as Auction 901. U.S. Cellular and several of its wholly-owned subsidiaries participated in Auction 901. As announced on October 3, 2012, U.S. Cellular and its subsidiaries were winning bidders in eligible areas within 10 states and will receive up to $40.1 million in support from the Mobility Fund. As part of the auction rules, winning bidders must complete network build out projects to provide 3G or 4G service to these areas within two or three years, respectively, and must also make their networks available to other providers for roaming. Winning bidders will receive support funding primarily upon achievement of coverage milestones defined in the auction rules. Sprint Transaction On November 6, 2012, U.S. Cellular entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement with subsidiaries of Sprint Nextel Corp oration (“Sprint”). The Purchase and Sale Agreement provides that U.S. Cellular will transfer customers and certain PCS license spectrum to Spri nt in U.S. Cellular's Chicago, c entral Illinois, St. Louis and certain Indiana/Michigan/Ohio markets in consideration for $480 million in cash at closing, subject to pro-rations of certain assets and liabilities. U.S. Cellular will retain other assets and liabilities related to the transferred markets, including network assets, retail stores and related equipment, o ther buildings and facilities. The transaction do es not affect spectrum licenses held by VIE s that are not currently used in the operations of the transferred markets. The Purchase and Sale Agreement also contemplates certain other agreements, including customer and network transition services agreements. The customer and network transition services agreements will require that U.S. Cellular provide customer, billing and network services to Sprint for a period of up to 24 months after the closing date, and Sprint will reimburse U.S. Cellular for providing such services at an amount equal to U.S. Cellular's cost, including applicable overhead allocations. In addition, these agreements will require Sprint to reimburse U.S. Cellular for certain network decommissioning costs, network site lease rent and termination costs, network access termination costs, and employee severance expenses, in an amount not to exceed $200 million in the aggregate. The transaction is subject to FCC approval, compliance with the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and other conditions. Subject to the satisfaction or (if permitted) waiver of all conditions, the transaction is expected to close by mid-2013.

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- Definition Tabular disclosure of significant events or transactions that occurred after the balance sheet date through the date the financial statements were issued or the date the financial statements were available to be issued. Examples include: the sale of a capital stock issue, purchase of a business, settlement of litigation, losses resulting from fire or flood, losses on receivables, significant realized and unrealized gains and losses that result from changes in quoted market prices of securities, declines in market prices of inventory, changes in authorized or issued debt (SEC), significant foreign exchange rate changes, substantial loans to insiders or affiliates, significant long-term investments, and substantial dividends not in the ordinary course of business. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (FAS) -Number 5 -Paragraph 11 -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy. Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Topic 855 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -Name Accounting Standards Codification -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6842918&loc=SL6314017-165662 + Details
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