Long-Term Debt, Net (Details) (USD $)	0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended					0 Months Ended		0 Months Ended				0 Months Ended			0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	0 Months Ended				12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended				1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended
	Mar. 08, 2013 installment	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2013 Issuing Subsidiary [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Issuing Subsidiary [Member]	Oct. 10, 2012 Credit Agreement [Member] installment	Oct. 10, 2012 Credit Agreement [Member] LIBOR [Member]	Oct. 10, 2012 Credit Agreement [Member] LIBOR [Member] Minimum [Member]	Oct. 10, 2012 Credit Agreement [Member] Bank Base Rate [Member]	Oct. 10, 2012 Credit Agreement [Member] Bank Base Rate [Member] Minimum [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Senior Notes [Member] Issuing Subsidiary [Member]	Apr. 23, 2013 Senior Notes Due in 2014 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Convertible Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due in 2014 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Convertible Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due in 2014 [Member]	Apr. 15, 2013 Secured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2016 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Secured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2016 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Secured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2016 [Member]	Apr. 15, 2013 Secured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2016 [Member] Redemption Period Two [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Secured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2016 [Member] Credit Agreement [Member]	Apr. 15, 2013 Term loans under Credit Agreement (2) [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Term loans under Credit Agreement (2) [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Term loans under Credit Agreement (2) [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes [Member] Cricket Communications [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due in 2014 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2020 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2020 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2020 [Member] Redemption Period One [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2020 [Member] Redemption Period Two [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2020 [Member] Redemption Period Three [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due In 2020 [Member] Redemption Period Thereafter [Member]	Nov. 30, 2010 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due in 2020 First Tranche [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due in 2020 First Tranche [Member]	May 31, 2011 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due in 2020 Second Tranche [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Unsecured Debt [Member] Senior Notes Due in 2020 Second Tranche [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Gross long-term debt												$ 1,600,000,000		$ 248,204,000	$ 250,000,000		$ 0	$ 1,100,000,000				$ 1,813,875,000	$ 400,000,000	$ 1,600,000,000	$ 250,000,000		$ 1,600,000,000					$ 1,200,000,000		$ 400,000,000
Unamortized discount																	0	(23,767,000)				(13,096,000)	(3,892,000)			(17,962,000)	(19,878,000)
Long-term debt		3,631,021,000	3,302,463,000
Current maturities of long-term debt		(266,454,000)	(4,000,000)		(18,250,000)	(4,000,000)
Long-term debt, excluding current maturities		3,364,567,000	3,298,463,000		3,364,567,000	3,048,463,000
Senior secured term loan facility							400,000,000
Number of quarterly installment payments	26						27
Quarterly installment payment amount	3,600,000						1,000,000
Final installment payment	1,332,400,000						373,000,000
Debt Instrument, Increase, Additional Borrowings																					1,425,000,000
Payments for Deposits Applied to Debt Retirements																1,185,000,000
Extinguishment of Debt, Amount																1,100,000,000
Debt instrument, stated interest rate																	7.75%								4.50%	7.75%							7.75%		7.75%
Description of variable rate basis									LIBOR	bank base rate
Basis spread on variable rate								3.50%	1.25%	2.50%	2.25%
Weighted average effective interest rate		4.80%
Aggregate principal amount of debt allowed under guarantee																				1,750,000,000
Cash flow multiple, allowed for calculation of total debt borrowings allowed under guarantee																				3.5
Cash flow multiple for priority debt borrowings allowed under guarantees																				0.30
Aggregate principal amount for calculation of priority debt borrowings allowed under guarantees																				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																			103.875%							101.00%		100.00%	103.875%	102.583%	101.292%
Gains (Losses) on Extinguishment of Debt		72,988,000	18,634,000	0	72,979,000	18,634,000							(200,000)				(72,800,000)
Debt redemption premium																	42,600,000
Unamortized debt discount																	22,000,000
Unamortized debt issuance cost																	8,200,000
Convertible debt instrument, stock price (in dollars per share)																									$ 93.21
Convertible debt instrument, incremental share factor																									8.3150
Convertible debt instrument, shares convertible																									10.7290
Convertible debt instrument, base conversion rate																									1,000
Convertible debt instrument, repurchase percent of principal																									100.00%
Convertible debt instrument, voting power percentage																									50.00%
Convertible debt instrument, merger consideration of shares																									90.00%
Debt Instrument, Redemption Price																									1,005
Repayments of convertible debt													1,800,000
Debt issuance price (as a percentage)																																98.323%		99.193%
Debt discount																																$ 20,100,000		$ 3,200,000
Effective interest rate																																	7.85%		7.80%
Applicable premium, as a percentage of principal amount																										1.00%
Applicable premium, basis spread (in basis points)																										5000.00%
Change of control threshold (as a percentage)																										35.00%