Debt - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	1 Months Ended				1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Mar. 31, 2013 Guarantee Of Debentures And First Mortgage Bonds Of Operating Telephone Company Subsidiaries	Mar. 31, 2013 Guarantee of Debt Obligations of GTE Corporation	Apr. 30, 2013 Verizon Communications Notes Repayment of Debt	Mar. 31, 2013 Four Year Credit Facility
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Aggregate principal amount	$ 500,000,000
Debt instrument maturity date	2015
Cash proceeds from debt	500,000,000
Amount of notes repaid					1,250,000,000
Stated interest rate on debt instrument					5.25%
Principal amount outstanding in connection with the guarantee of debt obligations	52,881,000,000	51,987,000,000	4,300,000,000	1,700,000,000
Credit facility, maturity date						Aug. 12, 2016
Amount of borrowing capacity on four-year credit facility						6,200,000,000
Amount of unused borrowing capacity on four-year credit facility						$ 6,100,000,000