Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2012
Operating activities:
Net cash provided by operating activities	$ 15,028	$ 50,619
Investing activities:
Purchases of property and equipment	(48,861)	(265,412)
Change in prepayments for purchases of property and equipment	(4,986)	(1,940)
Purchases of wireless licenses and spectrum clearing costs	(2,337)	(2,712)
Proceeds from sales of wireless licenses and operating assets, net	3,404	1,420
Purchases of investments	(334,935)	(173,141)
Sales and maturities of investments	186,103	440,734
Change in restricted cash	(891)	(1,501)
Net cash used in investing activities	(202,503)	(2,552)
Financing activities:
Proceeds from the issuance of long-term debt	1,414,313	0
Repayment of long-term debt	(1,103,796)	0
Payment of debt issuance costs	(15,800)	0
Proceeds from issuance of common stock	620	483
Payments made to joint venture partners	(14,867)	(5,230)
Other	(3,506)	(2,187)
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities	276,964	(6,934)
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents	89,489	41,133
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period	515,550	345,243
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period	605,039	386,376
Supplementary disclosure of cash flow information:
Cash paid for interest	(138,236)	(126,747)
Cash paid for income taxes	(4,088)	(3,943)
Net wireless licenses received in exchange transaction	$ (6,809)	$ 0