Revenues and Contract Costs (Tables)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2021

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)	2021		2021		2020		2020
Receivables(1)	$	10,088	$	12,029	$	11,094	$	12,078
Device payment plan agreement receivables(2)	11,178		10,358		9,559		11,741

(1)Balances do not include receivables related to the following contracts: leasing arrangements (such as those for towers and equipment), captive reinsurance arrangements primarily related to wireless device insurance and the interest on equipment financed under 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 7. Balances do not include 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)	2021		2021		2020		2020
Contract asset	$	878	$	937	$	923	$	1,150
Contract liability (1)	6,034		5,598		5,321		5,307

(1) Revenue recognized related to contract liabilities existing at January 1, 2021 were $161 million and $4.2 billion for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021, respectively. 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.

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)	2021		2020
Assets
Prepaid expenses and other	$	701	$	733
Other assets	177		204
Total	$	878	$	937
Liabilities
Other current liabilities	$	5,159	$	4,843
Other liabilities	875		755
Total	$	6,034	$	5,598

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)	2021		2020
Assets
Prepaid expenses and other	$	2,366	$	2,472
Other assets	2,151		2,070
Total	$	4,517	$	4,542