Wireless Licenses and Goodwill - (Details) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended									12 Months Ended
	Aug. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Aug. 31, 2013	Mar. 25, 2013	Dec. 31, 2013 Operating Wireless Licenses [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Operating Wireless Licenses [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Non-Operating Wireless Licenses [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Non-Operating Wireless Licenses [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Non-Operating Wireless Licenses [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Non-Operating Wireless Licenses [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Operating Wireless Licenses [Member]
Goodwill [Line Items]
Indefinite-Lived License Agreements		$ 2,091,261,000	$ 1,947,333,000			$ 136,200,000
Wireless licenses carrying value							2,047,400,000	1,745,700,000	43,900,000	42,600,000
Assets held for sale		0	136,222,000
Assets held for sale, fair value			143,000,000
Wireless licenses, fair value		19,800,000	13,600,000					2,415,000,000		77,900,000
Intangible assets, decline rate used for impairment testing (as a percent)											10.00%		10.00%
Potential impairment loss											100,000
Impairments and other charges, net		15,447,000	13,640,000	377,000								400,000
Fair value of company, based on average market capitalization	30.00%
Net assets	527,500,000				58,400,000
Control premium	573,500,000				1,267,100,000
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance		31,886,000
Ending balance		$ 31,886,000	$ 31,886,000
Share price (usd per share)		$ 17.34