Property, Plant And Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Property, Plant And Equipment

NOTE 7. PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

Property, plant and equipment is summarized as follows at December 31:

	Lives (years)	2022		2021
Land	-	$	1,381	$	1,401
Buildings and improvements	2-44	38,751		38,204
Central office equipment1	3-10	98,468		97,070
Cable, wiring and conduit	15-50	84,447		79,961
Satellites	14-17	103		103
Other equipment	3-20	81,658		85,929
Software	3-7	17,640		16,520
Under construction	-	7,182		5,425
		329,630		324,613
Accumulated depreciation and amortization		202,185		202,964
Property, plant and equipment – net		$	127,445	$	121,649
1 Includes certain network software.

Our depreciation expense was $17,852 in 2022, $17,634 in 2021, and $19,028 in 2020. Depreciation expense included amortization of software totaling $2,972 in 2022, $2,909 in 2021 and $3,343 in 2020.

In December 2022, we recorded a noncash pre-tax charge of $1,413 to abandon conduits that will not be utilized to support future network activity. The abandonment was considered outside the ordinary course of business.

During the first quarter of 2022, we updated our analysis of economic lives of AT&T owned fiber network assets. As of January 1, 2022, we extended the estimated economic life and depreciation period of such costs to better reflect the physical life of the assets that we had been experiencing and absence of technological changes that would replace fiber as the best broadband technology in the industry. The change in accounting estimate decreased depreciation expense $280, or $0.03 per diluted share from continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2022.

In December 2020, we reassessed our grouping of long-lived assets and identified certain impairment indicators, requiring us to evaluate the recoverability of the long-lived assets of our former Video business. Based on this evaluation, we determined that these assets were not fully recoverable and recognized pre-tax impairment charges totaling $7,255, of which $1,681 related to property, plant and equipment, including satellites. The reduced carrying amounts of the impaired assets became their new cost basis.