Long-Term Debt, Net - (Details) (USD $)	0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended				0 Months Ended							12 Months Ended			0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended						1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended				0 Months Ended
	Oct. 10, 2012	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2010 Denali [Member]	Oct. 10, 2012 LIBOR [Member]	Oct. 10, 2012 LIBOR [Member] Minimum [Member]	Oct. 10, 2012 Bank Base Rate [Member]	Oct. 10, 2012 Bank Base Rate [Member] Minimum [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Convertible Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due in 2014 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Convertible Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due in 2014 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes [Member] Cricket Communications [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due in 2014 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2015 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2015 [Member]	Nov. 09, 2012 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2015 [Member] Redemption Period Two [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2015 [Member] Redemption Period Two [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2020 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2020 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2020 [Member] Redemption Period One [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2020 [Member] Redemption Period Two [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2020 [Member] Redemption Period Three [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2020 [Member] Redemption Period Thereafter [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due in 2020 First Tranche [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due in 2020 Second Tranche [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Promissory Note [Member] Non Negotiable Promissory Notes Due in 2015 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Promissory Note [Member] Non Negotiable Promissory Notes Due in 2015 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Promissory Note [Member] Non Negotiable Promissory Notes Due in 2015 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Promissory Note [Member] Non Negotiable Promissory Notes Due in 2015 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Secured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2016 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Secured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2016 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Secured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2016 [Member] Redemption Period Two [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Secured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2016 [Member] Redemption Period Three [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Secured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2016 [Member] Redemption Period Thereafter [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Secured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2016 [Member] Credit Agreement [Member]	Oct. 10, 2012 Line of Credit [Member] Term Loan [Member] installment	Dec. 31, 2012 Line of Credit [Member] Term Loan [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Line of Credit [Member] Term Loan [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Gross long-term debt										$ 250,000,000	$ 250,000,000	$ 1,600,000,000	$ 250,000,000	$ 0	$ 300,000,000			$ 1,600,000,000	$ 1,600,000,000					$ 1,200,000,000	$ 400,000,000	$ 45,500,000	$ 0	$ 45,500,000	$ 21,911,000	$ 1,100,000,000	$ 1,100,000,000						$ 400,000,000	$ 0
Unamortized discount																		(19,878,000)	(21,650,000)											(23,767,000)	(29,601,000)						(3,892,000)	0
Long-term debt		3,350,000,000
Long-term debt, net unamortized discounts		3,302,463,000	3,220,660,000
Current maturities of long-term debt		(4,000,000)	(21,911,000)
Long-term debt, excluding current maturities		3,298,463,000	3,198,749,000
Senior secured term loan facility	400,000,000
Description of variable rate basis						LIBOR	LIBOR	bank base rate
Basis spread on variable rate						3.50%	1.25%	2.50%	2.25%
Weighted average enterest rate																																					4.80%
Number of quarterly installment payments																																				27
Quarterly installment payment amount																																				1,000,000
Final installment payment	373,000,000
Debt instrument, stated interest rate													4.50%	10.00%				7.75%						7.75%	7.75%					7.75%
Aggregate principal amount of debt allowed under guarantee																														1,500,000,000					1,750,000,000
Cash flow multiple, allowed for calculation of total debt borrowings allowed under guarantee																														2.5					3.5
Cash flow multiple for priority debt borrowings allowed under guarantees																														0.30					0.3
Aggregate principal amount for calculation of priority debt borrowings allowed under guarantees																														300,000,000					300,000,000
Prepayment premium fee (as a percentage)																																					1.00%
Prohibited change of control (as a percent)																																				35.00%
Redemption price percentage of principal																	105.00%	101.00%		100.00%	103.875%	102.583%	101.292%							101.00%		103.875%	101.938%	100.00%
Redemption of notes		321,911,000	23,589,000	1,118,096,000												324,500,000
Loss on extinguishment of debt		18,634,000	0	54,558,000										18,634,000
Redemption premium														15,000,000
Unamortized debt issuance costs														3,500,000
Professional fees related to redemption of notes														100,000
Convertible debt instrument, stock price (in dollars per share)													$ 93.21
Convertible debt instrument, shares convertible to													10.7290
Convertible debt instrument, base conversion rate													1,000
Convertible debt instrument, incremental share factor													8.3150
Convertible debt instrument, repurchase precent of prinicpal													100.00%
Convertible debt instrument, voting power percentage													50.00%
Convertible debt instrument, merger consideration of shares													90.00%
Non-controlling interest, percentage by parent					82.50%
Non-controlling interest, acquired by parent																										17.50%
Stated interest rate, minimum																											5.00%
Stated interest rate, maximum																											8.30%
Debt issuance price (as a percentage)																								98.323%	99.193%					96.134%
Debt discount																								$ 20,100,000	$ 3,200,000					$ 42,500,000
Effective interest rate																								7.86%	7.81%					7.92%
Maximum redemption percentage, of aggregate principal amount																		35.00%
Redemption price, percentage of principal, prior to maturity																		107.75%
Change of control threshold (as a percentage)																		35.00%												35.00%
Applicable premium, as a percentage of principal amount																		1.00%
Applicable premium, basis spread (in basis points)																		50
Debt Instrument, Term																												5 years