Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2024

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Property, Plant and Equipment

Note 9—Property, Plant and Equipment

Net property, plant and equipment is composed of the following:

	Depreciable Lives	As of December 31,
		2024		2023
		(Dollars in millions)
Land	N/A	$	630	646
Fiber, conduit and other outside plant (1)	15-45 years	17,348		15,217
Central office and other network electronics(2)	3-10 years	16,616		15,741
Support assets(3)	3-30 years	6,804		6,714
Construction in progress(4)	N/A	2,144		2,758
Gross property, plant and equipment		43,542		41,076
Accumulated depreciation		(23,121)		(21,318)
Net property, plant and equipment		$	20,421	19,758

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(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.

During 2024, we initiated marketing of our Broomfield, Colorado office buildings to locate a buyer and have classified those buildings as held for sale, resulting in an impairment loss of $80 million. During the second quarter of 2023, we donated our Monroe, Louisiana campus and leased back a portion thereof. This donation resulted in a $101 million loss recognized for the year ended December 31, 2023.

We recorded depreciation expense of $1.9 billion, $1.9 billion and $2.1 billion for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Asset Retirement Obligations

As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, our asset retirement obligations balance was primarily related to estimated future costs of removing equipment from leased properties and estimated future costs of properly disposing of asbestos and other hazardous materials upon remodeling or demolishing buildings. Asset retirement obligations are included in other long-term liabilities on our consolidated balance sheets.

Our fair value estimates were determined using the discounted cash flow method.

The following table provides asset retirement obligation activity:

	Years Ended December 31,
	2024		2023
	(Dollars in millions)
Balance at beginning of period	$	157	156
Accretion expense	12		6
Liabilities settled	(12)		(9)
Change in estimate	—		4
Balance at end of period	$	157	157

The changes in estimate referred to in the table above were offset against gross property, plant and equipment.