Note 3 – Sales of Certain Receivables

We have entered into transactions to sell certain service and EIP accounts receivables. The transactions, including our continuing involvement with the sold receivables and the respective impacts to our financial statements, are described below.

Sales of Service Receivables

Overview of the Transaction

In 2014, we entered into an arrangement to sell certain service accounts receivables on a revolving basis with a maximum funding commitment of $750 million (the “service receivable sale arrangement”). In November 2016, the arrangement was amended to increase the maximum funding commitment to $950 million with a scheduled expiration date in March 2018. As of December 31, 2016 and 2015, the service receivable sale arrangement provided funding of $907 million and $750 million, respectively. Sales of receivables occur daily and are settled on a monthly basis. The receivables consist of service charges currently due from customers and are short-term in nature.

In connection with the service receivable sale arrangement, we formed a wholly-owned subsidiary, which qualifies as a bankruptcy remote entity to sell service accounts receivables (the “Service BRE”). The Service BRE does not qualify as a Variable Interest Entity (“VIE”), and due to the significant level of control we exercise over the entity, it is consolidated. Pursuant to the arrangement, certain of our wholly-owned subsidiaries transfer selected receivables to the Service BRE. The Service BRE then sells the receivables to an unaffiliated entity (the “Service VIE”), which was established to facilitate the sale of beneficial ownership interests in the receivables to certain third parties.

Variable Interest Entity

We determined that the Service VIE qualifies as a VIE as it lacks sufficient equity to finance its activities. We have a variable interest in the Service VIE, but are not the primary beneficiary as we lack the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact the Service VIE’s economic performance. Those activities include committing the Service VIE to legal agreements to purchase or sell assets, selecting which receivables are purchased in the service receivable sale arrangement, determining whether the Service VIE will sell interests in the purchased service receivables to other parties, funding of the entities and servicing of receivables. We do not hold the power to direct the key decisions underlying these activities. For example, while we act as the servicer of the sold receivables, which is considered a significant activity of the Service VIE, we are acting as an agent in our capacity as the servicer and the counterparty to the service receivable sale arrangement has the ability to remove us as the servicing agent of the receivables at will with no recourse available to us. As we have determined we are not the primary beneficiary, the results of the Service VIE are not consolidated into our consolidated financial statements.

The following table summarizes the carrying amounts and classification of assets, which consists primarily of the deferred purchase price and liabilities included in our Consolidated Balance Sheets that relate to our variable interest in the Service VIE:



(in millions)	December 31, 2016		December 31, 2015
Other current assets	$	207	$	206
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities	17		—
Other current liabilities	129		73

Sales of EIP Receivables

Overview of the Transaction

In 2015, we entered into an arrangement to sell certain EIP accounts receivables on a revolving basis with a maximum funding commitment of $800 million (the “EIP sale arrangement”). In June 2016, the EIP sale arrangement was amended to increase the maximum funding commitment to $1.3 billion with a scheduled expiration date in November 2017. As of December 31, 2016 and 2015, the EIP sale arrangement provided funding of $1.2 billion and $800 million, respectively. Sales of EIP receivables occur daily and are settled on a monthly basis. The receivables consist of customer EIP balances, which require monthly customer payments for up to 24 months.

In connection with this EIP sale arrangement, we formed a wholly-owned subsidiary, which qualifies as a bankruptcy remote entity (the “EIP BRE”). Pursuant to the EIP sale arrangement, our wholly-owned subsidiary transfers selected receivables to the EIP BRE. The EIP BRE then sells the receivables to a non-consolidated and unaffiliated third-party entity for which we do not exercise any level of control, nor does the entity qualify as a VIE.

Variable Interest Entity

We determined that the EIP BRE is a VIE as its equity investment at risk lacks the obligation to absorb a certain portion of its expected losses. We have a variable interest in the EIP BRE and determined that we are the primary beneficiary based on our ability to direct the activities which most significantly impact the EIP BRE’s economic performance. Those activities include selecting which receivables are transferred into the EIP BRE and sold in the EIP sale arrangement and funding of the EIP BRE. Additionally, our equity interest in the EIP BRE obligates us to absorb losses and gives us the right to receive benefits from the EIP BRE that could potentially be significant to the EIP BRE. Accordingly, we determined that we are the primary beneficiary, and include the balances and results of operations of the EIP BRE in our consolidated financial statements.

The following table summarizes the carrying amounts and classification of assets (primarily the deferred purchase price) and liabilities included in our Consolidated Balance Sheets that relate to the EIP BRE:



(in millions)	December 31, 2016		December 31, 2015
Other current assets	$	371	$	164
Other assets	83		44
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities	—		14
Other long-term liabilities	4		3

In addition, the EIP BRE is a separate legal entity with its own separate creditors who will be entitled, prior to any liquidation of the EIP BRE, to be satisfied prior to any value in the EIP BRE becoming available to us. Accordingly, the assets of the EIP BRE may not be used to settle our general obligations and creditors of the EIP BRE have limited recourse to our general credit.

Sales of Receivables

The transfers of service receivables and EIP receivables to the non-consolidated entities are accounted for as sales of financial assets. Once identified for sale, the receivable is recorded at the lower of cost or fair value. Upon sale, we derecognize the net carrying amount of the receivables. We recognize the net cash proceeds in Net cash provided by operating activities in our Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows.

The proceeds are net of the deferred purchase price, consisting of a receivable from the purchasers that entitles us to certain collections on the receivables. We recognize the collection of the deferred purchase price in Net cash provided by operating activities as it is dependent on collection of the customer receivables and is not subject to significant interest rate risk. The deferred purchase price represents a financial asset that is primarily tied to the creditworthiness of the customers and which can be settled in such a way that we may not recover substantially all of our recorded investment, due to default by the customers on the underlying receivables. We elected, at inception, to measure the deferred purchase price at fair value with changes in fair value included in Selling, general and administrative expense in our Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income. The fair value of the deferred purchase price is determined based on a discounted cash flow model which uses primarily unobservable inputs (Level 3 inputs), including customer default rates. As of December 31, 2016 and 2015, our deferred purchase price related to the sales of service receivables and EIP receivables was $659 million and $389 million, respectively.

The following table summarizes the impacts of the sale of certain service receivables and EIP receivables in our Consolidated Balance Sheets:



(in millions)	December 31, 2016		December 31, 2015
Derecognized net service receivables and EIP receivables	$	2,502	$	1,850
Other current assets	578		370
of which, deferred purchase price	576		345
Other long-term assets	83		44
of which, deferred purchase price	83		44
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities	17		14
Other current liabilities	129		73
Other long-term liabilities	4		3
Net cash proceeds since inception	2,030		1,494
Of which:
Net cash proceeds during the year-to-date period	536		884
Net cash proceeds funded by reinvested collections	1,494		610

We recognized losses from sales of receivables of $228 million, $204 million and $179 million for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. These losses from sales of receivables were recognized in Selling, general and administrative expense in our Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income. Losses from sales of receivables include adjustments to the receivables’ fair values and changes in fair value of the deferred purchase price.

Continuing Involvement

Pursuant to the sale arrangements described above, we have continuing involvement with the service receivables and EIP receivables we sell as we service the receivables and are required to repurchase certain receivables, including ineligible receivables, aged receivables and receivables where write-off is imminent. We continue to service the customers and their related receivables, including facilitating customer payment collection, in exchange for a monthly servicing fee. As the receivables are sold on a revolving basis, the customer payment collections on sold receivables may be reinvested in new receivable sales. While servicing the receivables, we apply the same policies and procedures to the sold receivables as we apply to our owned receivables, and we continue to maintain normal relationships with our customers. Pursuant to the EIP sale arrangement, under certain circumstances, we are required to deposit cash or replacement EIP receivables primarily for contracts terminated by customers under our JUMP! Program.

In addition, we have continuing involvement with the sold receivables as we may be responsible for absorbing additional credit losses pursuant to the sale arrangements. Our maximum exposure to loss related to the involvement with the service receivables and EIP receivables sold under the sale arrangements was $1.1 billion as of December 31, 2016. The maximum exposure to loss, which is a required disclosure under GAAP, represents an estimated loss that would be incurred under severe, hypothetical circumstances whereby we would not receive the deferred purchase price portion of the contractual proceeds withheld by the purchasers and would also be required to repurchase the maximum amount of receivables pursuant to the sale arrangements without consideration for any recovery. As we believe the probability of these circumstances occurring is remote, the maximum exposure to loss is not an indication of our expected loss.