
Note 9.	Long-Term Debt, Financing and Capital Lease Obligations



	Interest Rates			Maturities			December 31, 2015			March 31, 2015
							(in millions)
Notes
Senior notes
Sprint Corporation	7.13	-	7.88%	2021	-	2025	$	10,500		$	10,500
Sprint Communications, Inc.	6.00	-	11.50%	2016	-	2022	9,280			9,280
Sprint Capital Corporation	6.88	-	8.75%	2019	-	2032	6,204			6,204
Guaranteed notes
Sprint Communications, Inc.	7.00	-	9.00%	2018	-	2020	4,000			4,000
Secured notes
Clearwire Communications LLC ⁽¹⁾	14.75%			2016			300			300
Exchangeable notes
Clearwire Communications LLC ⁽¹⁾	8.25%			2040			629			629
Credit facilities
Bank credit facility	3.63%			2018			—			—
Export Development Canada (EDC)	3.78	-	5.56%	2017	-	2019	550			800
Secured equipment credit facilities	1.99	-	2.75%	2017	-	2021	960			610
Financing obligation	6.10%			2021			237			275
Capital lease obligations and other	2.35	-	10.52%	2016	-	2023	231			127
Net premiums							862			1,106
							33,753			33,831
Less current portion							(3,324		)	(1,300		)
Long-term debt, financing and capital lease obligations							$	30,429		$	32,531

________


(1)	Notes of Clearwire Communications LLC are also direct obligations of Clearwire Finance, Inc. and are guaranteed by certain Clearwire subsidiaries.

As of December 31, 2015, Sprint Corporation, the parent corporation, had $10.5 billion in aggregate principal amount of senior notes outstanding. In addition, as of December 31, 2015, the outstanding principal amount of senior notes issued by Sprint Communications, Inc. and Sprint Capital Corporation, guaranteed notes issued by Sprint Communications, Inc., exchangeable notes issued by Clearwire Communications LLC, the EDC agreement, and the secured equipment credit facilities, totaling $21.8 billion in principal amount of our long-term debt issued by 100% owned subsidiaries, was fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Sprint Corporation. The indenture governing the secured notes of Clearwire Communications LLC restricts the ability of it and its subsidiaries to distribute cash to its parent. Although certain financing agreements restrict the ability of Sprint Communications, Inc. and its subsidiaries to distribute cash to Sprint Corporation, the ability of the subsidiaries to distribute cash to their respective parents, including to Sprint Communications, Inc. is generally not restricted.

Cash interest payments, net of amounts capitalized of $40 million and $41 million, totaled $1.8 billion during each of the nine-month periods ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

Notes

As of December 31, 2015, our outstanding notes consisted of senior notes, guaranteed notes, and exchangeable notes, all of which are unsecured, as well as secured notes of Clearwire Communications LLC, which are secured solely by assets of Clearwire Communications LLC and certain of its subsidiaries. Cash interest on all of the notes is generally payable semi-annually in arrears. As of December 31, 2015, $30.1 billion aggregate principal amount of the notes was redeemable at the Company's discretion at the then-applicable redemption prices plus accrued interest.

As of December 31, 2015, approximately $21.6 billion aggregate principal amount of our senior notes and guaranteed notes provide holders with the right to require us to repurchase the notes if a change of control triggering event (as defined in the applicable indentures and supplemental indentures) occurs. As of December 31, 2015, $300 million aggregate principal amount of Clearwire Communications LLC notes provide holders with the right to require us to repurchase the notes if a change of control occurs (as defined in the applicable indentures and supplemental indentures). If we are required to make such a change of control offer, we will offer a cash payment equal to 101% of the aggregate principal amount of notes repurchased plus accrued and unpaid interest.

Upon the close of the acquisition of Clearwire Corporation, the Clearwire Communications, LLC 8.25% Exchangeable Notes due 2040 became exchangeable at any time, at the holder’s option, for a fixed amount of cash equal to $706.21 for each $1,000 principal amount of notes surrendered. As a result, $444 million, which is the total cash consideration payable upon an exchange of all $629 million principal amount of notes outstanding, is now classified as a current debt obligation. The remaining carrying value of these notes is classified as a long-term debt obligation.

Credit Facilities

Bank credit facility

The Company has a $3.3 billion unsecured revolving bank credit facility that expires in February 2018. Borrowings under the revolving bank credit facility bear interest at a rate equal to the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) plus a spread that varies depending on the Company’s credit ratings. As of December 31, 2015, approximately $323 million in letters of credit were outstanding under this credit facility, including the letter of credit required by the Report and Order (see Note 12. Commitments and Contingencies). As a result of the outstanding letters of credit, which directly reduce the availability of borrowings, the Company had approximately $3.0 billion of borrowing capacity available under the revolving bank credit facility as of December 31, 2015. The required ratio (Leverage Ratio) of total indebtedness to trailing four quarters earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and other non-recurring items, as defined by the credit facility (adjusted EBITDA), was not to exceed 6.5 to 1.0 through the quarter ended December 31, 2015, and is not to exceed 6.25 to 1.0 through the quarter ending December 31, 2016 and 6.0 to 1.0 each fiscal quarter ending thereafter through expiration of the facility. The facility allows us to reduce our total indebtedness for purposes of calculating the Leverage Ratio by subtracting from total indebtedness the amount of any cash contributed into a segregated reserve account, provided that, after such cash contribution, our cash remaining on hand for operations exceeds $2.0 billion. Upon transfer, the cash contribution will remain restricted until and to the extent it is no longer required for the Leverage Ratio to remain in compliance.

EDC agreement

The unsecured EDC agreement provides for covenant terms similar to those of the revolving bank credit facility. However, under the terms of the EDC agreement, repayments of outstanding amounts cannot be re-drawn. In the quarter ended December 2015, we made a scheduled principal repayment of $500 million, leaving a principal balance of $300 million, which matures in December 2019. At the time of the repayment, the EDC agreement was also amended to increase the facility by $250 million through the addition of a new tranche due December 2017, which was fully drawn. Accordingly, as of December 31, 2015, the total principal amount of our borrowings under the EDC facility was $550 million.

Secured equipment credit facilities

Eksportkreditnamnden (EKN)

The EKN secured equipment credit facility provides for covenant terms similar to those of the revolving bank credit facility. In 2013, we had fully drawn and began to repay the EKN secured equipment credit facility totaling $1.0 billion, which was used to finance certain network-related purchases from Ericsson. We made regularly scheduled principal repayments totaling $127 million during the nine-month period ended December 31, 2015. The balance outstanding at December 31, 2015 was $381 million.

Finnvera plc (Finnvera)

The Finnvera secured equipment credit facility provides us with the ability to borrow up to $800 million to finance network-related purchases from Nokia. The facility, which initially could be drawn upon as many as three consecutive tranches, now has one tranche remaining and available for borrowing through October 2017. Such borrowings are contingent upon the amount and timing of Sprint's network-related purchases. During the nine-month period ended December 31, 2015, we drew $208 million on the facility, and we made principal repayments totaling $28 million, resulting in a total principal amount of $224 million outstanding at December 31, 2015.

K-sure

The K-sure equipment credit facility provides for the ability to borrow up to $750 million to finance network-related purchases from Samsung. The facility can be divided in up to three consecutive tranches of varying size with borrowings available until May 2018, contingent upon the amount of network-related purchases made by Sprint. During the nine-month period ended December 31, 2015, we drew $266 million on the facility, resulting in a total principal amount of $323 million outstanding at December 31, 2015.

Delcredere | Ducroire (D/D)

The D/D secured equipment credit facility provides for the ability to borrow up to $250 million to finance network equipment-related purchases from Alcatel-Lucent. During the nine-month period ended December 31, 2015, we drew $32 million on the facility, resulting in a total principal amount of $32 million outstanding at December 31, 2015.

Borrowings under the EKN, Finnvera, K-sure and D/D secured equipment credit facilities are each secured by liens on the respective equipment purchased pursuant to each facility's credit agreement. In addition, repayments of outstanding amounts borrowed under the secured equipment credit facilities cannot be redrawn. Each of these facilities is fully and unconditionally guaranteed by both Sprint Communications, Inc. and Sprint Corporation. The covenants under each of the four secured equipment credit facilities are similar to one another and to the covenants of our revolving bank credit facility and EDC agreement.

Financing, Capital Lease and Other Obligations

We have approximately 3,000 cell sites that we sold and subsequently leased back. Terms extend through 2021, with renewal options for an additional 20 years. These cell sites continue to be reported as part of our property, plant and equipment due to our continued involvement with the property sold and the transaction is accounted for as a financing. Our capital lease and other obligations are primarily related to wireless network equipment and inventory.

Covenants

Certain indentures and other agreements require compliance with various covenants, including covenants that limit the ability of the Company and its subsidiaries to sell all or substantially all of its assets, limit the ability of the Company and its subsidiaries to incur indebtedness and liens, and require that we maintain certain financial ratios, each as defined by the terms of the indentures, supplemental indentures and financing arrangements.

As of December 31, 2015, the Company was in compliance with all restrictive and financial covenants associated with its borrowings. A default under any of our borrowings could trigger defaults under certain of our other debt obligations, which in turn could result in the maturities being accelerated.

Under our revolving bank credit facility and certain other agreements, we are currently restricted from paying cash dividends because our ratio of total indebtedness to adjusted EBITDA (each as defined in the applicable agreements) exceeds 2.5 to 1.0.