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Property, Plant and Equipment (Tables)
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2013
Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]  
Schedule of net property, plant and equipment
Net property, plant and equipment is composed of the following:
 
 
December 31,
 
Depreciable
Lives
 
2013
 
2012
 
 
(Dollars in millions)
Land
N/A
$
585

 
579

Fiber, conduit and other outside plant (1)
15-45
14,187

 
13,030

Central office and other network electronics (2)
3-10
12,178

 
11,242

Support assets (3)
3-30
6,420

 
6,235

Construction in progress (4)
N/A
937

 
847

Gross property, plant and equipment
 
34,307

 
31,933

Accumulated depreciation
 
(15,661
)
 
(13,024
)
Net property, plant and equipment
 
$
18,646

 
18,909

_______________________________________________________________________________
(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, 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,
 
2013
 
2012
 
2011
 
(Dollars in millions)
Balance at beginning of year
$
106

 
109

 
41

Accretion expense
7

 
7

 
9

Liabilities incurred
—

 
1

 
—

Liabilities assumed in Qwest and Savvis acquisitions
—

 
—

 
124

Liabilities settled and other
(4
)
 
(1
)
 
(3
)
Change in estimate
(3
)
 
(10
)
 
(62
)
Balance at end of year
$
106

 
106

 
109