Property, Plant and Equipment

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

3. Property, Plant and Equipment

Property, plant and equipment consisted of the following:

	March 31, 2012		December 31, 2011
Plant in service	$	545,069	$	536,267
Plant under construction		17,075		12,389
		562,144		548,656
Less accumulated amortization and depreciation		250,613		237,902
Net property, plant and equipment	$	311,531	$	310,754

During the first quarter of 2012, the Company entered into agreements with Sprint Nextel and Alcatel-Lucent to begin updating the Company's Wireless network. The update will use base station equipment to be acquired from Alcatel-Lucent in conjunction with Sprint Nextel's wireless network upgrade plan known as Network Vision. Beginning in the second quarter of 2012, the Company will begin replacing cell site equipment at a number of its cell sites. The Company expects to replace all of its existing cell site equipment by the end of 2013. The Company has accelerated depreciation on these assets so that net book value at time of trade-in will equal the expected value to be realized upon trade-in. Accumulated amortization and depreciation shown above as of March 31, 2012, includes approximately $2.0 million of accelerated expense.

- Definition

Tabular disclosure of the useful life and salvage value of long-lived, physical assets that are used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services and not intended for resale. Examples include land, buildings, machinery and equipment, and other types of furniture and equipment including, but not limited to, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment and software.

+ References+ Details