Long-Term Debt, Financing and Capital Lease Obligations (Narrative) (Details) (USD $)	2 Months Ended	12 Months Ended					1 Months Ended	0 Months Ended		1 Months Ended														0 Months Ended									0 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012 site years	Dec. 31, 2012 site years	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Oct. 15, 2012	Dec. 31, 2012 Letter Of Credit Required By The FCCs Report And Order [Member]	Aug. 24, 2012 Serial Redeemable Senior Notes [Member] Nextel Communications Inc Serial Redeemable 6.875% Senior Notes [Member]	Jun. 09, 2012 Serial Redeemable Senior Notes [Member] Nextel Communications Inc Serial Redeemable 6.875% Senior Notes [Member]	Jun. 08, 2012 Serial Redeemable Senior Notes [Member] Nextel Communications Inc Serial Redeemable 6.875% Senior Notes [Member]	Nov. 20, 2012 Serial Redeemable Senior Notes [Member] Nextel Communications Inc Serial Redeemable 7.375% Senior Notes [Member]	Aug. 24, 2012 Serial Redeemable Senior Notes [Member] Nextel Communications Inc Serial Redeemable 7.375% Senior Notes [Member]	Nov. 20, 2012 Serial Redeemable Senior Notes [Member] Nextel Communications Inc Serial Redeemable 5.95% Senior Notes [Member] [Member]	Nov. 19, 2012 Serial Redeemable Senior Notes [Member] Nextel Communications Inc Serial Redeemable 5.95% Senior Notes [Member] [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Line of Credit [Member] Secured Equipment Credit Facility [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Line of Credit [Member] Secured Equipment Credit Facility [Member]	May 29, 2012 Line of Credit [Member] Secured Equipment Credit Facility [Member] terms	Dec. 31, 2011 Line of Credit [Member] Secured Equipment Credit Facility [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Line of Credit [Member] Export Development Canada Credit Facilities Sprint Nextel Corporation [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Line of Credit [Member] Export Development Canada Credit Facilities Sprint Nextel Corporation [Member]	Nov. 14, 2012 Senior Notes [Member] Sprint Nextel Corporation Senior Notes [Member]	Aug. 14, 2012 Senior Notes [Member] Sprint Nextel Corporation Senior Notes [Member]	Mar. 01, 2012 Senior Notes [Member] Sprint Nextel Corporation Senior Notes [Member]	Nov. 09, 2011 Senior Notes [Member] Sprint Nextel Corporation Senior Notes [Member]	Dec. 29, 2011 Senior Notes [Member] Sprint Capital Corporation Senior Notes [Member]	Jan. 31, 2011 Senior Notes [Member] Sprint Capital Corporation Senior Notes [Member]	Mar. 01, 2012 Guaranteed notes [Member] Sprint Nextel Corporation Guaranteed Notes [Member]	Nov. 09, 2011 Guaranteed notes [Member] Sprint Nextel Corporation Guaranteed Notes [Member]	Feb. 28, 2013 Letter of Credit [Member] Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility expires in 2013 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 New Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility [Member] Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility expires in 2013 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Revolving Credit Facility [Member] Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility expires in 2013 [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Revolving Credit Facility [Member] Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility expires in 2013 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Revolving Credit Facility [Member] Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility expires in 2013 [Member]	Oct. 15, 2012 Sprint Nextel [Member]	Oct. 22, 2012 Sprint Nextel [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Sprint Nextel [Member] Line of Credit [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Principal of debt outstanding, including the credit facilities	$ 16,900,000,000	$ 16,900,000,000
Long-term debt fully and unconditionally guaranteed	7,000,000,000	7,000,000,000
Secured Debt	1,500,000,000	1,500,000,000
Secured Debt Collateral, Net	995,000,000	995,000,000
Secured Debt Collateral, Gross	1,400,000,000	1,400,000,000
Interest Costs, Capitalized During Period		278,000,000	413,000,000	13,000,000
Cash interest payments		1,400,000,000	1,000,000,000	1,500,000,000
Redeemable notes	19,800,000,000	19,800,000,000
Debt Instrument, Face Amount									1,473,000,000		2,100,000,000									2,280,000,000	1,500,000,000	1,000,000,000	1,000,000,000			1,000,000,000	3,000,000,000
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate, Stated Percentage							6.875%				7.375%		5.95%							6.00%	7.00%	9.125%	11.50%	8.375%	7.625%	0.00%	0.00%							1.00%
Number of Stock that will be issued, Shares, Conversion Of Convertible Securities																																		590,476,190
Proceeds from Convertible Debt																																	3,100,000,000
Repayments of Long-term Debt																								2,000,000,000	1,650,000,000
Gains (Losses) on Extinguishment of Debt																								33,000,000
Extinguishment of Debt, Amount							473,000,000	1,000,000,000		1,100,000,000	1,000,000,000	1,200,000,000
Senior Notes weighted average effective interest rate		7.50%	7.00%
Line of Credit Facility, Maximum Borrowing Capacity																1,000,000,000													2,200,000,000
Letters of Credit Outstanding, Amount						859,000,000
Borrowing capacity available under revolving bank credit facility															204,000,000																1,300,000,000
Number of cell sites leased back	3,000	3,000
Term in years for cell sites leased back renewal options	20	20
Ratio of total indebtedness to adjusted EBITDA, numerator	2.5	2.5
Long-term Debt, Percentage Bearing Fixed Interest, Percentage Rate														2.03%		2.03%
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate, Effective Percentage																6.00%
Number of tranches																2
Line of credit, maximum drawdown during each tranche																500,000,000
Line of Credit Facility, Amount Outstanding														296,000,000			0	500,000,000	500,000,000									925,000,000		0		0			796,000,000
Principal amount of notes with the right to require the Company to repurchase on change of control triggering event	11,100,000,000	11,100,000,000			8,800,000,000
Percentage of principal amount required to repurchase notes on change of control triggering event	101.00%	101.00%
Debt Instrument, Convertible, Conversion Price																																		$ 5.25
Debt Instrument, Convertible, Beneficial Conversion Feature	$ 254,000,000