Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Note 4. Property, Plant and Equipment

Property, plant and equipment consisted of the following at December 31, 2012 and 2011:

	Estimated Useful Lives	2012		2011
		(in thousands)
Land		$	3,345	$	3,087
Buildings and structures	10 – 40 years		75,664		71,934
Cable and wire	4 – 40 years		175,833		155,884
Equipment and software	2 – 16.7 years		331,374		305,362
Plant in service		$	586,216	$	536,267
Plant under construction			25,469		12,389
Total property, plant and equipment			611,685		548,656
Less accumulated amortization and depreciation			246,211		237,902
Property, plant and equipment, net		$	365,474	$	310,754

The Company traded in certain base station PCS equipment for 4G LTE base station equipment in 2012, and in 2011, traded in certain base station PCS equipment for equipment with additional capacity, and received credits of $20.3 million and $2.9 million, respectively, against the fair value purchase price of the new equipment. The Company recognized gains of $1.8 million in 2011 for the difference between the book value of the equipment traded in and the trade-in credit received. For 2012, the Company adjusted depreciation on equipment to be traded in so that the net book value at trade in approximated the credit to be received.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for 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. This disclosure may include property plant and equipment accounting policies and methodology, a schedule of property, plant and equipment gross, additions, deletions, transfers and other changes, depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, net, accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization expense and useful lives, income statement disclosures, assets held for sale and public utility disclosures.

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