Significant Contractual Relationship (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended		31 Months Ended	41 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2006	Dec. 31, 2012	May 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2012 Subscriber Base [Member]	Jul. 08, 2010 Subscriber Base [Member]
Significant Contractual Relationship [Abstract]
Megahertz spectrum range used	1,900		1,900
Term of contract	20 years
Number of contract renewals	3
Length of renewals	10 years
Right or obligation to sell business (in hundredths)	80.00%
Net service fee (in hundredths)	12.00%	8.80%	12.00%	8.80%
Change in basis points necessary to change the net service fee (in hundredths)	1.00%
Maximum allowable net service fee (in hundredths)	12.00%		12.00%
Acquired Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Number of Virgin Mobile rights acquired to receive customers share of revenues						50,000
Proceeds from reimbursement of handset subsidies and other costs incorrectly calculated from inception					$ 11.8
Gross carrying amount						$ 6.9
Weighted average useful life					4 years
Number of cell sites upgraded to new technology	224
Additional term of contract	5 years
Expected future net service fee (in hundredths)	14.00%