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Property, Plant and Equipment (Tables)
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]  
Schedule of net property, plant and equipment
Net property, plant and equipment is composed of the following:
 
Depreciable
Lives
 
As of December 31,
 
 
2014
 
2013
 
 
 
(Dollars in millions)
Land
n/a
 
$
575

 
585

Fiber, conduit and other outside plant (1)
15-45
 
15,151

 
14,187

Central office and other network electronics (2)
3-10
 
13,248

 
12,178

Support assets (3)
3-30
 
6,578

 
6,420

Construction in progress (4)
n/a
 
1,166

 
937

Gross property, plant and equipment
 
 
36,718

 
34,307

Accumulated depreciation
 
 
(18,285
)
 
(15,661
)
Net property, plant and equipment
 
 
$
18,433

 
18,646

_______________________________________________________________________________
(1) 
Fiber, conduit and other outside plant consists of fiber and metallic cable, conduit, poles and other supporting structures.
(2) 
Central office and other network electronics consists of circuit and packet switches, routers, transmission electronics and electronics providing service to customers.
(3) 
Support assets consist of buildings, data centers, computers and other administrative and support equipment.
(4) 
Construction in progress includes inventory held for construction and property of the aforementioned categories that has not been placed in service as it is still under construction.
Schedule of changes to asset retirement obligations
The following table provides asset retirement obligation activity:
 
Years Ended December 31,
 
2014
 
2013
 
2012
 
(Dollars in millions)
Balance at beginning of year
$
106

 
106

 
109

Accretion expense
7

 
7

 
7

Liabilities incurred
6

 
—

 
1

Liabilities settled and other
(2
)
 
(4
)
 
(1
)
Change in estimate
(10
)
 
(3
)
 
(10
)
Balance at end of year
$
107

 
106

 
106