Revenues and Contract Costs (Tables)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Revenue from Contract with Customer [Abstract]

Schedule of Receivables from Contracts with Customers

The following table presents information about receivables from contracts with customers:

	At September 30,		At January 1,		At September 30,		At January 1,
(dollars in millions)	2020		2020		2019		2019
Receivables(1)	$	11,094	$	12,078	$	11,900	$	12,104
Device payment plan agreement receivables(2)	9,559		11,741		10,538		8,940

⁽¹⁾Balances do not include receivables related to the following contracts: leasing arrangements (such as towers), captive reinsurance arrangements primarily related to wireless device insurance and the interest on equipment financed on a device payment plan agreement when sold to the customer by an authorized agent.

(2)Included in device payment plan agreement receivables presented in Note 6. Balances do not include receivables related to contracts completed prior to January 1, 2018 and receivables derived from the sale of equipment on a device payment plan through an authorized agent.

Contract with Customer, Asset and Liability

The following table presents information about contract balances:

	At September 30,		At January 1,		At September 30,		At January 1,
(dollars in millions)	2020		2020		2019		2019
Contract asset	$	923	$	1,150	$	1,102	$	1,003
Contract liability (1)	5,321		5,307		5,082		4,943

⁽¹⁾ Revenue recognized related to contract liabilities existing at January 1, 2020 were $124 million and $4.2 billion for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, respectively. Revenue recognized related to contract liabilities existing at January 1, 2019 were $235 million and $4.1 billion for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019, respectively.

The balance of contract assets and contract liabilities recorded in our condensed consolidated balance sheets were as follows:

	At September 30,		At December 31,
(dollars in millions)	2020		2019
Assets
Prepaid expenses and other	$	733	$	848
Other assets	190		302
Total	$	923	$	1,150
Liabilities
Other current liabilities	$	4,683	$	4,651
Other liabilities	638		656
Total	$	5,321	$	5,307

Capitalized Contract Cost

The balances of deferred contract costs included in our condensed consolidated balance sheets were as follows:

	At September 30,		At December 31,
(dollars in millions)	2020		2019
Assets
Prepaid expenses and other	$	2,428	$	2,578
Other assets	1,805		1,911
Total	$	4,233	$	4,489