Document and Entity Information (USD $)	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2011	Oct. 28, 2011	Jun. 30, 2010
Entity Information [Line Items]
Entity Registrant Name	LEAP WIRELESS INTERNATIONAL INC
Entity Central Index Key	0001065049
Document Type	10-Q
Document Period End Date	Sep. 30, 2011
Amendment Flag	false
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2011
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q3
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Well-known Seasoned Issuer	Yes
Entity Voluntary Filers	No
Entity Current Reporting Status	Yes
Entity Filer Category	Large Accelerated Filer
Entity Public Float			$ 801,693,696
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		78,712,785

If the value is true, then the document as an amendment to previously-filed/accepted document.

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End date of current fiscal year in the format --MM-DD.

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This is focus fiscal period of the document report. For a first quarter 2006 quarterly report, which may also provide financial information from prior periods, the first fiscal quarter should be given as the fiscal period focus. Values: FY, Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, H1, H2, M9, T1, T2, T3, M8, CY.

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This is focus fiscal year of the document report in CCYY format. For a 2006 annual report, which may also provide financial information from prior periods, fiscal 2006 should be given as the fiscal year focus. Example: 2006.

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The end date of the period reflected on the cover page if a periodic report. For all other reports and registration statements containing historical data, it is the date up through which that historical data is presented. If there is no historical data in the report, use the filing date. The format of the date is CCYY-MM-DD.

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The type of document being provided (such as 10-K, 10-Q, N-1A, etc). The document type is limited to the same value as the supporting SEC submission type, minus any "/A" suffix. The acceptable values are as follows: S-1, S-3, S-4, S-11, F-1, F-3, F-4, F-9, F-10, 6-K, 8-K, 10, 10-K, 10-Q, 20-F, 40-F, N-1A, 485BPOS, 497, NCSR, N-CSR, N-CSRS, N-Q, 10-KT, 10-QT, 20-FT, and Other.

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A unique 10-digit SEC-issued value to identify entities that have filed disclosures with the SEC. It is commonly abbreviated as CIK.

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Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

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-Name Regulation 12B

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Indicate "Yes" or "No" whether registrants (1) have filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that registrants were required to file such reports), and (2) have been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. This information should be based on the registrant's current or most recent filing containing the related disclosure.

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Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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State aggregate market value of voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates computed by reference to price at which the common equity was last sold, or average bid and asked price of such common equity, as of the last business day of registrant's most recently completed second fiscal quarter. The public float should be reported on the cover page of the registrants form 10K.

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The exact name of the entity filing the report as specified in its charter, which is required by forms filed with the SEC.

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Indicate "Yes" or "No" if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Is used on Form Type: 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, 20-F, 6-K, 10-K/A, 10-Q/A, 20-F/A, 6-K/A, N-CSR, N-Q, N-1A.

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