Long-Term Obligations (Long-Term Financing Arrangements) (Details)																																					0 Months Ended			12 Months Ended						0 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Commercial Mortgage Pass Through Certificates Series 2007 [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Commercial Mortgage Pass Through Certificates Series 2007 [Member] USD ($)	Jan. 31, 2012 Revolving Credit Facility [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Revolving Credit Facility [Member] USD ($)		Jan. 31, 2012 Term Loan 2008 [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Term Loan 2008 [Member] USD ($)		Dec. 31, 2011 Colombian Short-Term Credit Facility [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Four Point Five Zero Percent Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Four Point Five Zero Percent Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Five Point Zero Five Percent Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Five Point Zero Five Percent Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Four Point Six Two Five Percent Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Four Point Six Two Five Percent Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Seven Point Zero Zero Percent Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Seven Point Zero Zero Percent Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Seven Point Two Five Percent Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Seven Point Two Five Percent Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Notes Payable and Capital Leases [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Notes Payable and Capital Leases [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Colombian Bridge Loan [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Colombian Bridge Loan [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 South African Facility [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 South African Facility [Member] ZAR	Dec. 31, 2011 South African Facility [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Five Point Nine Zero Percent Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Five Point Nine Zero Percent Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Secured Cellular Site Revenue Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Secured Cellular Site Revenue Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Ghana Loan [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Ghana Loan [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Credit Facility 2011 [Member] USD ($)		Jan. 08, 2013 Credit Facility 2012 [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Credit Facility 2012 [Member] USD ($)		Dec. 31, 2012 Term Loan 2012 [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Colombian Long-Term Credit Facility [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Colombian Long-Term Credit Facility [Member] COP	Dec. 31, 2012 Colombian Loan [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Uganda Loan [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Four Point Seven Zero Percent Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)	Jan. 31, 2013 Three Point Five Zero Notes [Member] USD ($)	Jan. 08, 2013 Three Point Five Zero Notes [Member] USD ($)
Total	$ 8,753,376,000	$ 7,236,308,000	$ 1,750,000,000	$ 1,750,000,000		$ 1,000,000,000	[1]		$ 325,000,000	[1]	$ 72,811,000	$ 999,414,000	$ 999,313,000	$ 699,333,000	$ 699,258,000	$ 599,638,000	$ 599,489,000	$ 500,000,000	$ 500,000,000	$ 296,272,000	$ 295,830,000	$ 57,293,000	$ 46,818,000	$ 53,169,000	$ 26,780,000	$ 98,456,000	834,300,000	$ 84,920,000	$ 499,356,000	$ 499,302,000	$ 207,188,000	$ 209,321,000	$ 130,951,000	$ 127,466,000	$ 265,000,000	[2]		$ 992,000,000	[2]	$ 750,000,000	$ 76,347,000	135,000,000,000	$ 19,176,000	$ 61,023,000	$ 698,760,000
Current portion of long-term obligations	(60,031,000)	(101,816,000)
Long-term obligations	8,693,345,000	7,134,492,000																												499,302,000
Line of Credit Facility, Maximum Borrowing Capacity					1,250,000,000			325,000,000																			1,200,000,000
Repayment Of Indebtedness Under Revolving Credit Facility																																					719,000,000			632,000,000						718,400,000	265,000,000
Debt Instrument, Face Amount																																														$ 1,000,000,000	$ 1,000,000,000
Debt Instrument Interest Rate												4.50%		5.05%		4.625%		7.00%		7.25%				7.99%					5.90%				9.00%										8.30%		4.70%		3.50%

[1] On January 31, 2012, the Company repaid amounts outstanding under the $1.25 billion senior unsecured revolving credit facility (the “Revolving Credit Facility”) and $325.0 of million term loan commitments (the “2008 Term Loan”) with proceeds from an unsecured revolving credit facility entered into on April 8, 2011 (the “2011 Credit Facility”) and an unsecured revolving credit facility entered into on January 31, 2012 (the “2012 Credit Facility”). Therefore, the amounts outstanding at December 31, 2011 have been classified as long-term obligations in the consolidated balance sheet.

[2] On January 8, 2013, the Company repaid the 2011 Credit Facility and $718.4 million of the 2012 Credit Facility with proceeds from a registered public offering of $1.0 billion aggregate principal amount of 3.50% senior unsecured notes due 2023 (the “3.50% Notes”).