Severance and Exit Costs

For the year ended March 31, 2015, we recognized lease exit costs primarily associated with tower and cell sites as well as facility closures. For the Successor three-month transition period ended March 31, 2014, we recognized lease exit costs primarily associated with retail store closures. For the Successor year ended December 31, 2013 as well as for the Predecessor 191-day period ended July 10, 2013 and unaudited three-month period ended March 31, 2013, we recognized lease exit costs associated with the decommissioning of the Nextel Platform and access exit costs related to payments that will continue to be made under our backhaul access contracts for which we will no longer be receiving any economic benefit.

As a result of the United States Cellular (U.S. Cellular) asset acquisition, which closed in May 2013, we recorded a liability related to network shut-down costs for which we agreed to reimburse U.S. Cellular. During the quarter ended December 31, 2014, we identified favorable trends in actual costs and, as a result, we released some of the reserve resulting in a gain of approximately $41 million included in "Other, net" on the consolidated statements of operations.

For the Successor year ended March 31, 2015, three-month transition period ended March 31, 2014 and year ended December 31, 2013 as well as the Predecessor 191-day period ended July 10, 2013 and unaudited three-month period ended March 31, 2013, we also recognized severance costs associated with reductions in our work force.

As a result of the modernization of our network and the completion of the Significant Transactions (see Note 3. Significant Transactions), we expect to incur additional exit costs in the future related to the transition of our existing backhaul architecture to a replacement technology for our network and the efforts associated with the integration of our Significant Transactions, such as the evaluation of future use of the Clearwire 4G broadband network, among other initiatives. These additional exit costs are expected to range between approximately $75 million to $150 million, of which the majority are expected to be incurred through March 31, 2016.

The following provides the activity in the severance and exit costs liability included in "Accounts payable," "Accrued expenses and other current liabilities" and "Other liabilities" within the consolidated balance sheets:



	Successor
	March 31, 2014		Net Expense				Cash Payments and Other			March 31, 2015
	(in millions)
Lease exit costs	$	650	$	(28	)	⁽¹⁾	$	(331	)	$	291
Severance costs	197		253			⁽²⁾	(331		)	119
Access exit costs	124		38			⁽³⁾	(118		)	44
	$	971	$	263			$	(780	)	$	454

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(1)	In addition to the $41 million gain (Wireless only) related to U.S. Cellular recognized, we recognized costs of $13 million ($12 million Wireless and $1 million Wireline) for the year ended March 31, 2015.


(2)	For the Successor year ended March 31, 2015, we recognized costs of $253 million ($218 million Wireless, $35 million Wireline).


(3)	For the Successor year ended March 31, 2015, we recognized costs of $38 million ($33 million Wireless, $5 million Wireline).



	Successor
	December 31, 2013		Net Expense			Cash Payments and Other			March 31, 2014
	(in millions)
Lease exit costs	$	764	$	11	⁽⁴⁾	$	(125	)	$	650
Severance costs	225		14		⁽⁵⁾	(42		)	197
Access exit costs	149		31		⁽⁶⁾	(56		)	124
	$	1,138	$	56		$	(223	)	$	971

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(4)	For the three-month transition period ended March 31, 2014, we recognized costs of $11 million (solely attributable to Wireless).


(5)	For the three-month transition period ended March 31, 2014, we recognized costs of $14 million ($12 million Wireless, $2 million Wireline).


(6)	For the three-month transition period ended March 31, 2014, $4 million (solely attributable to Wireline) was recognized as "Cost of services" and $27 million (solely attributable to Wireless) was recognized in "Severance and exit costs."



	Successor
	July 11, 2013			Net Expense			Cash Payments and Other			December 31, 2013
	(in millions)
Lease exit costs	$	933	⁽⁷⁾	$	56	⁽⁸⁾	$	(225	)	$	764
Severance costs	54			219		⁽⁹⁾	(48		)	225
Access exit costs	189			53		⁽¹⁰⁾	(93		)	149
	$	1,176		$	328		$	(366	)	$	1,138

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(7)	The July 11, 2013 opening balance takes into account purchase price adjustments as it relates to the SoftBank Merger.


(8)	For the year ended December 31, 2013, we recognized costs of $56 million ($54 million Wireless, $2 million Wireline).


(9)	For the year ended December 31, 2013, we recognized costs of $219 million ($191 million Wireless, $28 million Wireline).


(10)	For the year ended December 31, 2013, $19 million (solely attributable to Wireline) was recognized as "Cost of services" and $34 million (solely attributable to Wireless) was recognized in "Severance and exit costs."



	Predecessor
	December 31, 2012		Purchase Price Adjustments		Net Expense			Cash Payments and Other			July 10, 2013
	(in millions)
Lease exit costs	$	190	$	131	$	478	⁽¹¹⁾	$	(33	)	$	766
Severance costs	11		—		58		⁽¹²⁾	(15		)	54
Access exit costs	43		—		151		⁽¹³⁾	(5		)	189
	$	244	$	131	$	687		$	(53	)	$	1,009

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(11)	For the 191-day period ended July 10, 2013, we recognized net costs of $478 million (solely attributable to our Wireless segment). For the unaudited three-month period ended March 31, 2013, we recognized net costs of $8 million (solely attributable to our Wireless segment).


(12)	For the 191-day period ended July 10, 2013, we recognized costs of $58 million ($55 million Wireless, and $3 million was Wireline). For the unaudited three-month period ended March 31, 2013, we recognized net costs of $17 million ($14 million Wireless, and $3 million Wireline).


(13)	Of the $151 million ($133 million Wireless; $18 million Wireline) recognized for the 191-day period ended July 10, 2013, $35 million was recognized as "Cost of services" and $116 million was recognized in "Severance and exit costs." For the unaudited three-month period ended March 31, 2013, we recognized $7 million ($4 million Wireless; $3 million Wireline) all as "Cost of services."