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Property, Plant and Equipment (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Land	$ 35	$ 35
Buildings	295	296
Leasehold and land improvements	1,280	1,210
Cell site equipment	3,708	3,460
Switching equipment	1,051	1,018
Office furniture and equipment	280	285
Other operating assets and equipment	48	51
System development	1,238	1,149
Work in process	358	274
Total property, plant and equipment, gross	8,293	7,778
Accumulated depreciation and amortization	(6,086)	(5,576)
Property, plant and equipment, net	2,207	2,202
Depreciation and amortization expense	689	627	$ 604
Loss on asset disposals	$ 19	$ 10	$ 17
Buildings
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life	20 years
Leasehold and land improvements | Minimum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life	1 year
Leasehold and land improvements | Maximum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life	30 years
Cell site equipment | Minimum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life	7 years
Cell site equipment | Maximum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life	25 years
Switching equipment | Minimum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life	5 years
Switching equipment | Maximum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life	8 years
Office furniture and equipment | Minimum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life	3 years
Office furniture and equipment | Maximum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life	5 years
Other operating assets and equipment | Minimum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life	3 years
Other operating assets and equipment | Maximum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life	5 years
System development | Minimum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life	1 year
System development | Maximum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life	7 years

X

- Definition

Amount of accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization for physical assets used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services.

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Amount before accumulated depreciation of building structures held for productive use including addition, improvement, or renovation to the structure, including, but not limited to, interior masonry, interior flooring, electrical, and plumbing.

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Useful life of long lived, physical assets used in the normal conduct of business and not intended for resale, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days. Examples include, but not limited to, land, buildings, machinery and equipment, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment.

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Premises equipment which performs the function of establishing and releasing connections on a per call basis between two or more circuts, services or communications systems.

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