Intangible Assets

9 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]

Wireless licenses are considered indefinite-lived intangible assets. Indefinite-lived intangible assets are not subject to amortization but instead are tested for impairment annually, or more frequently if an event indicates that the asset might be impaired. There were no triggering events indicating impairment during the nine months ended December 31, 2022.

During the nine months ended December 31, 2022, the Company acquired wireless licenses for cash consideration of $9.2 million, after receiving FCC approval, of which $7.0 million was spent on licenses acquired, including costs associated with license swaps, by entering into agreements with several third parties in multiple U.S. markets and $2.2 million was paid to the U.S. Treasury for Anti-Windfall payments, i.e. payments to cover any shortfall of channels needed in a given county to reach the requisite 240 channels required to be surrendered to secure a broadband license for such county. As of December 31, 2022 and March 31, 2022, the Company recorded initial deposits to incumbents amounting to approximately $13.3 million and $8.0 million, respectively, that are refundable if the FCC does not approve the sale, swap or retuning of the spectrum. Of the $13.3 million initial refundable deposit balance as of December 31, 2022, $12.7 million was included in prepaid expenses and other current assets and the remaining $0.6 million in other assets in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. Of the $8.0 million initial refundable deposit balance as of March 31, 2022, $7.6 million was included in prepaid expenses and other current assets and the remaining $0.4 million in other assets in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. As of December 31, 2022 and March 31, 2022, the Company recorded deferred charges of $8.0 million and $3.4 million, respectively, related to closed retuning deals, of which $0.6 million and $0.2 million, respectively, was recorded in prepaid expenses and other current assets and $7.4 million and $3.1 million, respectively, was recorded in other assets.

During the nine months ended December 31, 2022, the Company applied for, and was granted by the FCC, broadband licenses for 70 counties in connection with the long-term lease agreement with Evergy. The Company recorded the new broadband licenses collectively at their estimated accounting cost basis of approximately $13.1 million. In connection with receiving the broadband licenses, the Company disposed of $3.8 million of the value ascribed to the narrowband licenses it relinquished to the FCC for the same 70 counties. The total carrying value of narrowband licenses included the cost to acquire the original narrowband licenses, Anti-Windfall payments paid to cover the shortfall in each county and the clearing costs. As a result of the exchanges of narrowband licenses for broadband licenses, the Company recorded a non-monetary gain on the disposal of intangible assets of $5.8 million and $9.3 million, for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2022, respectively.

Intangible assets consist of the following activity for the nine months ended December 31, 2022 (in thousands):


	Wireless Licenses
Balance at March 31, 2022	$	151,169
Acquisitions	9,159
Exchanges – broadband licenses received	13,107
Exchanges – narrowband licenses surrendered	(3,778)
Balance at December 31, 2022	$	169,657