Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Notes)	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2015
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies	Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies Description of Business Level 3 Communications, Inc. and subsidiaries (the "Company" or "Level 3") is an international facilities-based provider (that is, a provider that owns or leases a substantial portion of the plant, property and equipment necessary to provide its services) of a broad range of integrated communications services. The Company created its communications network by constructing its own assets and through a combination of purchasing other companies and purchasing or leasing facilities from others. The Company designed its network to provide communications services that employ and take advantage of rapidly improving underlying optical, Internet Protocol, computing and storage technologies. On October 31, 2014, the Company completed the acquisition of tw telecom inc. (“tw telecom”) and tw telecom became an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of the Company through a tax-free, stock and cash reorganization (the "Merger"). See Note 2 - Events Associated with the Merger of tw telecom inc. Principles of Consolidation and Basis of Presentation The Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of Level 3 Communications, Inc. and subsidiaries in which it has a controlling interest. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated. The accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States ("GAAP"). As part of its consolidation policy, the Company considers its controlled subsidiaries, investments in businesses in which the Company is not the primary beneficiary or does not have effective control but has the ability to significantly influence operating and financial policies, and variable interests resulting from economic arrangements that give the Company rights to economic risks or rewards of a legal entity. The Company does not have variable interests in a variable interest entity where it is required to consolidate the entity as the primary beneficiary or where it has concluded it is not the primary beneficiary. Prior to October 1, 2015, the Company included the results of its wholly owned Venezuelan subsidiary in its Consolidated Financial Statements using the consolidation method of accounting. The Company’s Venezuelan subsidiary's earnings and cash flows are reflected in the Consolidated Financial Statements at the SICAD I exchange rate for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively. The consolidated results of operations include a $5 million charge related to the devaluation of the SICAD I exchange rate from 12.8 bolivars per U.S. dollar to 13.5 bolivars per U.S. dollar, which was effective September 1, 2015. Venezuelan exchange control regulations have resulted in an other-than-temporary lack of exchangeability between the Venezuelan bolivar and U.S. dollar, and have restricted the Company's Venezuelan operations’ ability to pay dividends in U.S. dollars and settle intercompany obligations in U.S. dollars. The severe currency controls imposed by the Venezuelan government have significantly limited the ability to realize the benefits from earnings of the Company’s Venezuelan operations and access the resulting liquidity provided by those earnings in U.S. dollars. The Company expects that this condition will continue for the foreseeable future. Additionally, government regulations affecting the Company's ability to manage its Venezuelan subsidiary’s capital structure, purchasing, product pricing, customer invoicing and collections, and labor relations; and the current political and economic situation within Venezuela have resulted in an acute degradation in the Company's ability to make key operational decisions for its Venezuelan operations. This lack of exchangeability into U.S. dollars and the degradation in the Company's ability to control key operational decisions has resulted in a lack of control over the Company's Venezuelan subsidiary for U.S. accounting purposes. Therefore, while continuing to wholly own its Venezuelan subsidiary, in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification 810 -- Consolidation, the Company deconsolidated its Venezuelan subsidiary on September 30, 2015, and will begin accounting for its investment in its Venezuelan operations using the cost method of accounting. As a result of deconsolidating of its Venezuelan subsidiary, the Company recorded a one-time charge of $171 million in the third quarter of 2015, which had no accompanying tax benefit. This charge included the write-off of both the Company's investment in its Venezuelan subsidiary and $40 million of intercompany receivables from its Venezuelan subsidiary. The Company's Venezuelan operations’ bolivar-denominated cash balance of $83 million (at the SICAD I exchange rate of 13.5 bolivars per U.S. dollar) at September 30, 2015 is no longer reported in Cash and Cash Equivalents on the Consolidated Balance Sheet. In future periods, the Company's financial results will not include the operating results of its Venezuelan operations. Any dividends from the Company's Venezuelan subsidiaries will be recorded as other income upon receipt of the cash. Prior period results have not been adjusted to reflect the deconsolidation of the Company's Venezuelan subsidiary. As a result of the deconsolidation of the Company's Venezuelan subsidiary, the Company completed an assessment of the Latin American reporting unit goodwill as of September 30, 2015 and concluded there was no impairment. The accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2014, which was derived from audited Consolidated Financial Statements, and the unaudited interim Consolidated Financial Statements as of September 30, 2015 and for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014 have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) for quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and do not include all of the information and note disclosures required by GAAP for complete financial statements. These financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited Consolidated Financial Statements and notes thereto included in the Company’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014. In the opinion of the Company’s management, these financial statements contain all adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of financial position, results of operations and cash flows at the dates and for the interim periods presented herein. The results of operations for an interim period are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations expected for a full fiscal year. The preparation of the Consolidated Financial Statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reported period. Actual results could differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions and such differences could be material. Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements In April 2015, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2015-03, Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs, which requires debt issuance costs to be presented in the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the associated debt liability. The new guidance is effective retrospectively for public companies for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2015, and interim periods within those years. The adoption of this guidance is not expected to have a material effect on the Company's consolidated financial condition or have any effect on the Company’s consolidated results of operations. In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-9, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, which amended the existing accounting standards for revenue recognition and requires an entity to recognize the amount of revenue to which it expects to be entitled for the transfer of promised goods or services to customers. In July 2015, the FASB deferred the effective date to annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017, and interim reporting periods within those periods. Early adoption is permitted using the original effective date of annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016, and interim reporting periods within those periods. The new guidance may be applied retrospectively to each prior period presented or prospectively with the cumulative effect recognized as of the date of initial application. The Company does not expect to adopt the ASU early, has not yet selected a transition method and is currently evaluating the effect of adopting this ASU on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures. In September, the the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-16, Simplifying the Accounting for Measurement- Period Adjustments, which requires an acquirer recognize adjustments to provisional amounts that are identified during the measurement period in the reporting period in which the adjustment amounts are determined and record, in the financial statements for the same period, the effect on earnings of changes in depreciation or amortization, or other income effects (if any) as a result of the change to the provisional amounts, calculated as though the accounting had been completed as of the acquisition date. The new guidance is effective prospectively for public companies for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2015, and interim periods within those years. The adoption of this guidance is not expected to have a material effect on the Company's consolidated financial condition.

Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Description of Business

Level 3 Communications, Inc. and subsidiaries (the "Company" or "Level 3") is an international facilities-based provider (that is, a provider that owns or leases a substantial portion of the plant, property and equipment necessary to provide its services) of a broad range of integrated communications services. The Company created its communications network by constructing its own assets and through a combination of purchasing other companies and purchasing or leasing facilities from others. The Company designed its network to provide communications services that employ and take advantage of rapidly improving underlying optical, Internet Protocol, computing and storage technologies.

On October 31, 2014, the Company completed the acquisition of tw telecom inc. (“tw telecom”) and tw telecom became an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of the Company through a tax-free, stock and cash reorganization (the "Merger"). See Note 2 - Events Associated with the Merger of tw telecom inc.

Principles of Consolidation and Basis of Presentation

The Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of Level 3 Communications, Inc. and subsidiaries in which it has a controlling interest. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated. The accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States ("GAAP").

As part of its consolidation policy, the Company considers its controlled subsidiaries, investments in businesses in which the Company is not the primary beneficiary or does not have effective control but has the ability to significantly influence operating and financial policies, and variable interests resulting from economic arrangements that give the Company rights to economic risks or rewards of a legal entity. The Company does not have variable interests in a variable interest entity where it is required to consolidate the entity as the primary beneficiary or where it has concluded it is not the primary beneficiary.

Prior to October 1, 2015, the Company included the results of its wholly owned Venezuelan subsidiary in its Consolidated Financial Statements using the consolidation method of accounting. The Company’s Venezuelan subsidiary's earnings and cash flows are reflected in the Consolidated Financial Statements at the SICAD I exchange rate for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively. The consolidated results of operations include a $5 million charge related to the devaluation of the SICAD I exchange rate from 12.8 bolivars per U.S. dollar to 13.5 bolivars per U.S. dollar, which was effective September 1, 2015.

Venezuelan exchange control regulations have resulted in an other-than-temporary lack of exchangeability between the Venezuelan bolivar and U.S. dollar, and have restricted the Company's Venezuelan operations’ ability to pay dividends in U.S. dollars and settle intercompany obligations in U.S. dollars. The severe currency controls imposed by the Venezuelan government have significantly limited the ability to realize the benefits from earnings of the Company’s Venezuelan operations and access the resulting liquidity provided by those earnings in U.S. dollars. The Company expects that this condition will continue for the foreseeable future. Additionally, government regulations affecting the Company's ability to manage its Venezuelan subsidiary’s capital structure, purchasing, product pricing, customer invoicing and collections, and labor relations; and the current political and economic situation within Venezuela have resulted in an acute degradation in the Company's ability to make key operational decisions for its Venezuelan operations. This lack of exchangeability into U.S. dollars and the degradation in the Company's ability to control key operational decisions has resulted in a lack of control over the Company's Venezuelan subsidiary for U.S. accounting purposes. Therefore, while continuing to wholly own its Venezuelan subsidiary, in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification 810 -- Consolidation, the Company deconsolidated its Venezuelan subsidiary on September 30, 2015, and will begin accounting for its investment in its Venezuelan operations using the cost method of accounting.

As a result of deconsolidating of its Venezuelan subsidiary, the Company recorded a one-time charge of $171 million in the third quarter of 2015, which had no accompanying tax benefit. This charge included the write-off of both the Company's investment in its Venezuelan subsidiary and $40 million of intercompany receivables from its Venezuelan subsidiary. The Company's Venezuelan operations’ bolivar-denominated cash balance of $83 million (at the SICAD I exchange rate of 13.5 bolivars per U.S. dollar) at September 30, 2015 is no longer reported in Cash and Cash Equivalents on the Consolidated Balance Sheet. In future periods, the Company's financial results will not include the operating results of its Venezuelan operations. Any dividends from the Company's Venezuelan subsidiaries will be recorded as other income upon receipt of the cash. Prior period results have not been adjusted to reflect the deconsolidation of the Company's Venezuelan subsidiary. As a result of the deconsolidation of the Company's Venezuelan subsidiary, the Company completed an assessment of the Latin American reporting unit goodwill as of September 30, 2015 and concluded there was no impairment.

The accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2014, which was derived from audited Consolidated Financial Statements, and the unaudited interim Consolidated Financial Statements as of September 30, 2015 and for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014 have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) for quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and do not include all of the information and note disclosures required by GAAP for complete financial statements. These financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited Consolidated Financial Statements and notes thereto included in the Company’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014. In the opinion of the Company’s management, these financial statements contain all adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of financial position, results of operations and cash flows at the dates and for the interim periods presented herein. The results of operations for an interim period are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations expected for a full fiscal year.

The preparation of the Consolidated Financial Statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reported period. Actual results could differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions and such differences could be material.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

In April 2015, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2015-03, Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs, which requires debt issuance costs to be presented in the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the associated debt liability. The new guidance is effective retrospectively for public companies for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2015, and interim periods within those years. The adoption of this guidance is not expected to have a material effect on the Company's consolidated financial condition or have any effect on the Company’s consolidated results of operations.

In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-9, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, which amended the existing accounting standards for revenue recognition and requires an entity to recognize the amount of revenue to which it expects to be entitled for the transfer of promised goods or services to customers. In July 2015, the FASB deferred the effective date to annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017, and interim reporting periods within those periods. Early adoption is permitted using the original effective date of annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016, and interim reporting periods within those periods. The new guidance may be applied retrospectively to each prior period presented or prospectively with the cumulative effect recognized as of the date of initial application. The Company does not expect to adopt the ASU early, has not yet selected a transition method and is currently evaluating the effect of adopting this ASU on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.

In September, the the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-16, Simplifying the Accounting for Measurement- Period Adjustments, which requires an acquirer recognize adjustments to provisional amounts that are identified during the measurement period in the reporting period in which the adjustment amounts are determined and record, in the financial statements for the same period, the effect on earnings of changes in depreciation or amortization, or other income effects (if any) as a result of the change to the provisional amounts, calculated as though the accounting had been completed as of the acquisition date. The new guidance is effective prospectively for public companies for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2015, and interim periods within those years. The adoption of this guidance is not expected to have a material effect on the Company's consolidated financial condition.