Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (unaudited) (USD $) In Thousands	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2010
Operating activities:
Net cash provided by operating activities	$ 268,134	$ 326,254
Investing activities:
Acquisition of a business	(850)	0
Purchases of property and equipment	(289,304)	(298,927)
Change in prepayments for purchases of property and equipment	(2,281)	57
Purchases of wireless licenses and spectrum clearing costs	(3,535)	(2,969)
Proceeds from sales of wireless licenses and operating assets	1,887	0
Purchases of investments	(521,909)	(481,435)
Sales and maturities of investments	214,726	621,449
Purchase of membership units of equity investment	0	(967)
Dividend received from equity investee	11,606	0
Change in restricted cash	(920)	811
Net cash used in investing activities	(590,580)	(161,981)
Financing activities:
Proceeds from issuance of long-term debt	396,772	0
Repayment of long-term debt	(15,089)	(6,000)
Payment of debt issuance costs	(7,177)	0
Purchase of non-controlling interest	0	(24,161)
Proceeds from the issuance of common stock, net	712	660
Proceeds from sale lease-back financing	25,815	0
Other	(4,638)	(1,476)
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities	396,395	(30,977)
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents	73,949	133,296
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period	350,790	174,999
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period	424,739	308,295
Supplementary disclosure of cash flow information:
Cash paid for interest	(123,653)	(136,477)
Cash paid for income taxes	(3,494)	(3,022)
Non-cash investing and financing activities:
Contribution of wireless licenses in exchange for an equity interest	$ 0	$ 2,381