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Variable Interest Entities | 6 Months Ended
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Jun. 30, 2013
Disclosure Text Block |
Variable Interest Entities | 9. Variable Interest Entities (VIEs) Consolidated VIEs As of June 30, 2013, U.S. Cellular holds a variable interest in and consolidates the following VIEs under GAAP: Aquinas Wireless L.P. (“Aquinas Wireless”); and King Street Wireless L.P. (“King Street Wireless”) and King Street Wireless, Inc., the general partner of King Street Wireless. The power to direct the activities that most significantly impact the economic performance of Aquinas Wireless and King Street Wireless (collectively, the “limited partnerships”) is shared. Specifically, the general partner 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. The following table presents the classification of the consolidated VIEs' assets and liabilities in U.S. Cellular's Consolidated Balance Sheet.
|  | June 30, 2013 |  | December 31, 2012
(Dollars in thousands) |  |  |  |  |
Assets |  |  |  |  |
| Cash and cash equivalents | $ | 5,001 |  | $ | 5,849
| Other current assets |  | 117 |  |  | 120
| Licenses |  | 308,091 |  |  | 308,091
| Property, plant and equipment, net |  | 17,532 |  |  | 16,443
| Other assets and deferred charges |  | 1,015 |  |  | 887
| Total assets | $ | 331,756 |  | $ | 331,390
Liabilities |  |  |  |  |
| Current liabilities | $ | 3 |  | $ | 1,013
| Deferred liabilities and credits |  | 3,276 |  |  | 3,024
| Total liabilities | $ | 3,279 |  | $ | 4,037
Other Related Matters Aquinas Wireless and King Street Wireless 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, 2012. U.S. Cellular may agree to make additional capital contributions and/or advances to Aquinas Wireless and King Street Wireless and/or to their general partners to provide additional funding for the development of licenses granted in 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. U.S. Cellular's capital contributions and advances made to Aquinas Wireless and King Street Wireless and/or their general partners in the six months ended June 30, 2012 totaled $5.0 million. There were no capital contributions or advances made to Aquinas Wireless or King Street Wireless or their general partners in the six months ended June 30, 2013. 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 continue the deployment of 4G LTE. U.S. Cellular currently provides 4G LTE service in conjunction with King Street Wireless. Aquinas Wireless is still in the process of developing long-term business plans.

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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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