Long-term Debt and Lease Obligations: (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2015

Debt Instruments [Abstract]

Schedule of Long-term Debt Instruments

Long-term debt was as follows at:

(Millions)	March 31, 2015			December 31, 2014
Issued by Windstream Services:
Senior secured credit facility, Tranche A3 – variable rates, due December 30, 2016 (a)	$	333.5		$	344.3
Senior secured credit facility, Tranche A4 – variable rates, due August 8, 2017 (a)	247.5			255.0
Senior secured credit facility, Tranche B4 – variable rates, due January 23, 2020 (a)	1,314.7			1,318.1
Senior secured credit facility, Tranche B5 – variable rates, due August 8, 2019	582.6			584.1
Senior secured credit facility, Revolving line of credit – variable rates, due     December 17, 2015 (b)	820.0			625.0
Debentures and notes, without collateral:
2017 Notes – 7.875%, due November 1, 2017	1,100.0			1,100.0
2018 Notes – 8.125%, due September 1, 2018 (c)	400.0			400.0
2020 Notes – 7.750%, due October 15, 2020	700.0			700.0
2021 Notes – 7.750%, due October 1, 2021	950.0			950.0
2022 Notes – 7.500%, due June 1, 2022	500.0			500.0
2023 Notes – 7.500%, due April 1, 2023	600.0			600.0
2023 Notes – 6.375%, due August 1, 2023	700.0			700.0
Issued by subsidiaries of Windstream Services:
Windstream Holdings of the Midwest, Inc. – 6.75%, due April 1, 2028	100.0			100.0
Cinergy Communications Company – 6.58%, due January 1, 2022 (d)	1.9			1.9
Debentures and notes, without collateral:
PAETEC 2018 Notes – 9.875%, due December 1, 2018 (c)	450.0			450.0
Premium on long-term debt, net	20.4			23.3
	8,820.6			8,651.7
Less current maturities	(92.5		)	(717.5		)
Total long-term debt	$	8,728.1		$	7,934.2

(a) Subsequent to March 31, 2015, the debt obligation was retired in connection with completion of the debt-for-debt exchange (see Note 13).

(b) On April 24, 2015, Windstream Services amended the revolving line of credit and extended its maturity to April 24, 2020. In connection with the debt-for-debt exchange, Windstream Services retired $752.2 million of borrowings outstanding under the revolving line of credit. Immediately following the completion of the spin-off, Windstream Services had borrowings outstanding under the amended revolving line of credit of approximately $277.8 million (see Note 13).

(c) On April, 24, 2015, Windstream Services called for the redemption of these notes on May 27, 2015 (see Note 13).

(d) Note was repaid on April 24, 2015 utilizing available borrowings under the amended revolving line of credit.

Schedule of Maturities of Long-term Debt [Table Text Block]

Maturities for long-term debt outstanding as of March 31, 2015, excluding $20.4 million of unamortized net premium, were as follows for each of the twelve month periods ended March 31:

Year	(Millions)
2016	$	912.5
2017	339.9
2018	1,306.9
2019	869.5
2020	1,820.1
Thereafter	3,551.3
Total	$	8,800.2

Schedule of Future Minimum Lease Payments for Capital Leases [Table Text Block]

Future minimum lease payments under capital lease obligations were as follows for each of the twelve month periods ended March 31:

Year	(Millions)
2016	$	31.9
2017	17.0
2018	2.1
2019	0.6
2020	0.6
Thereafter	1.7
Total future payments	53.9
Less: Amounts representing interest	3.8
Present value of minimum lease payments	$	50.1

Other Lease Obligations [Table Text Block]

Future minimum payments during the initial terms of the leases were as follows for each of the twelve month periods ended March 31:

Year	(Millions)
2016	$	6.4
2017	6.6
2018	6.8
2019	6.9
2020	7.1
Thereafter	90.2
Total	$	124.0

Interest Expense, Net Disclosure

Interest expense was as follows for the three month periods ended March 31:

	Three Months Ended
(Millions)	2015			2014
Interest expense related to long-term debt	$	133.6		$	134.5
Impact of interest rate swaps	6.6			7.4
Interest on capital and other lease obligations	2.4			1.1
Less capitalized interest expense	(1.5		)	(1.1		)
Total interest expense	$	141.1		$	141.9