Debt - Credit Facilities, Non-Cash Transaction, Early Debt Redemptions, Guarantees (Detail) - USD ($)	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2020	Mar. 31, 2019
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Facility Capacity	$ 15,000,000,000
Unused Capacity	9,391,000,000
Principal Amount Outstanding	4,382,000,000
Guarantee of Debentures of Operating Telephone Company Subsidiaries
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Principal amount outstanding in connection with the guarantee of debt obligations	765,000,000
Guarantee of Debt Obligations of GTE Corporation
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Principal amount outstanding in connection with the guarantee of debt obligations	391,000,000
Network Equipment \| Vendor Financing Facility
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Value of purchase assets financed	502,000,000	$ 115,000,000
Long-term debt maturing within one year	1,500,000,000	$ 1,000,000,000.0
Revolving Credit Facility
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Facility Capacity	9,500,000,000
Unused Capacity	9,391,000,000
Equipment Credit Facilities
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Facility Capacity	5,500,000,000
Unused Capacity	0
Principal Amount Outstanding	$ 4,382,000,000

Future cash outflow to pay for purchases of fixed assets that have occurred.

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Amount of short-term and long-term debt and lease obligation.

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Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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No definition available.

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The carrying value as of the balance sheet date of the current and noncurrent portions of long-term obligations drawn from a line of credit, which is a bank's commitment to make loans up to a specific amount. Examples of items that might be included in the application of this element may consist of letters of credit, standby letters of credit, and revolving credit arrangements, under which borrowings can be made up to a maximum amount as of any point in time conditional on satisfaction of specified terms before, as of and after the date of drawdowns on the line. Includes short-term obligations that would normally be classified as current liabilities but for which (a) postbalance sheet date issuance of a long term obligation to refinance the short term obligation on a long term basis, or (b) the enterprise has entered into a financing agreement that clearly permits the enterprise to refinance the short-term obligation on a long term basis and the following conditions are met (1) the agreement does not expire within 1 year and is not cancelable by the lender except for violation of an objectively determinable provision, (2) no violation exists at the BS date, and (3) the lender has entered into the financing agreement is expected to be financially capable of honoring the agreement.

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Maximum borrowing capacity under the credit facility without consideration of any current restrictions on the amount that could be borrowed or the amounts currently outstanding under the facility.

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Amount of borrowing capacity currently available under the credit facility (current borrowing capacity less the amount of borrowings outstanding).

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Amount of long-term debt and lease obligation, classified as current.

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