Wireless Licenses, Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets (Tables)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2021

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]

Carrying Amount of Wireless Licenses

The carrying amounts of our Wireless licenses, as well as wireless spectrum for which licenses had not yet been received, are as follows:

	At September 30,		At December 31,
(dollars in millions)	2021		2020
Wireless licenses	$	145,767	$	96,097
Deposits for wireless licenses	—		2,772

Changes in Carrying Amount of Goodwill

Changes in the carrying amount of Goodwill are as follows:

(dollars in millions)	Consumer		Business		Other		Total
Balance at January 1, 2021 (1)	$	17,222	$	7,535	$	16	$	24,773
Acquisitions (2)	92		—		37		129
Reclassifications, adjustments and other	3		(17)		(1)		(15)
Balance at September 30, 2021 (1)	$	17,317	$	7,518	$	52	$	24,887

(1) Goodwill is net of accumulated impairment charges of $4.8 billion, related to our historical Media reporting unit, which included Verizon Media. On September 1, 2021, we completed the sale of Verizon Media. See Note 3 for additional information.

(2) The change in goodwill due to acquisitions is related to Bluegrass and other insignificant transactions. See Note 3 for additional information.

Composition of Other Intangible Assets, Net

The following table displays the composition of Other intangible assets, net as well as the respective amortization period:

	At September 30, 2021						At December 31, 2020
(dollars in millions)	Gross (1) Amount		Accumulated Amortization		Net Amount		Gross Amount		Accumulated Amortization		Net Amount
Customer lists (8 to 13 years)	$	1,933	$	(1,033)	$	900	$	4,021	$	(1,961)	$	2,060
Non-network internal-use software (5 to 7 years)	20,525		(14,524)		6,001		21,685		(15,104)		6,581
Other (4 to 25 years)	869		(748)		121		1,771		(999)		772
Total	$	23,327	$	(16,305)	$	7,022	$	27,477	$	(18,064)	$	9,413

(1) Other intangible assets are net of assets disposed as a result of the closing of the Verizon Media sale on September 1, 2021. See Note 3 for additional information.

Amortization Expense for Other Intangible Assets

The amortization expense for Other intangible assets was as follows: 

	Three Months Ended		Nine Months Ended
(dollars in millions)	September 30,		September 30,
2021	$	430	$	1,539
2020	621		1,818

Estimated Future Amortization Expense for Other Intangible Assets

The estimated future amortization expense for Other intangible assets for the remainder of the current year and next 5 years is as follows:

Years	(dollars in millions)
Remainder of 2021	$	440
2022	1,632
2023	1,426
2024	1,187
2025	994
2026	758