Wireless Licenses and Goodwill - (Details) (USD $)	1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended												3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Nov. 30, 2011	Aug. 31, 2011	Sep. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Oct. 31, 2012	Aug. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2012 Pocket Customer Call Center [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Pocket Customer Call Center [Member]	Jan. 03, 2011 Pocket Customer Call Center [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Operating Wireless Licenses [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Operating Wireless Licenses [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Non-Operating Wireless Licenses [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Non-Operating Wireless Licenses [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Non-Operating Wireless Licenses [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Non-Operating Wireless Licenses [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Non-Operating Wireless Licenses [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Operating Wireless Licenses [Member]	Feb. 20, 2013 Maximum [Member]	Feb. 20, 2013 Minimum [Member]
Goodwill [Line Items]
Indefinite-Lived License Agreements				$ 1,947,333,000	$ 1,788,970,000
Wireless licenses carrying value												1,904,700,000	1,745,700,000	42,600,000	42,600,000
Assets held for sale				136,222,000	204,256,000
Wireless licenses, fair value													2,415,000,000		77,900,000	9,100,000		9,100,000
Intangible assets, decline rate used for impairment testing (as a percent)																	10.00%		10.00%
Potential impairment loss																	100,000
Impairments and other charges				13,640,000	377,000	477,327,000										400,000		400,000
Business acquisition, purchase price											850,000
Fair value of company, based on average market capitalization		30.00%	30.00%
Net assets		676,100,000					528,000,000	527,500,000
License agreement, non-monetary net gain	20,500,000
Control premium		848,400,000					621,200,000	573,500,000
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance				31,886,000	31,094,000			31,886,000	31,886,000	31,886,000
Goodwill acquired				0	560,000
Goodwill resulting from final Pocket purchase price adjustments				0	232,000
Ending balance				$ 31,886,000	$ 31,886,000	$ 31,094,000		$ 31,886,000	$ 31,886,000	$ 31,886,000
Share Price				$ 6.65																$ 7.05	$ 5.51