Property, Plant and Equipment (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Property, Plant and Equipment

Net property, plant and equipment is composed of the following:

		Successor			Predecessor
	Depreciable Lives	December 31, 2017			December 31, 2016
		(Dollars in millions)
Land	N/A	$	348		179
Fiber conduit and other outside plant(1)	15-45 years	4,750			9,110
Central office and other network electronics(2)	3-10 years	2,134			8,846
Support assets(3)	3-30 years	2,019			3,023
Construction-in-progress(4)	N/A	304			230
Gross property, plant and equipment		9,555			21,388
Accumulated depreciation(5)		(143		)	(11,249	)
Net property, plant and equipment		$	9,412		10,139

(1) Fiber, conduit and other outside plant consists of fiber and metallic cable, conduit, poles and other supporting structures.

(2) Central office and other network electronics consists of circuit and packet switches, routers, transmission electronics and electronics providing service to customers.

(3) Support assets consist of buildings, data centers, computers and other administrative and support equipment.

(4) Construction in progress includes construction and property of the aforementioned categories that has not been placed in service as it is still under construction.

(5) CenturyLink's acquisition of us caused our assets and liabilities to be recognized at fair value and resulted in accumulated depreciation being reset as of the date of acquisition.

Schedule of Change in Asset Retirement Obligation

The following table provides asset retirement obligation activity:

	Successor			Predecessor
	Period Ended December 31, 2017			Period Ended October 31, 2017		Year Ended December 31, 2016		Year Ended December 31, 2015
	(Dollars in millions)
Balance at beginning of period (1)	$	45		89		90		85
Accretion expense	1			12		10		9
Liabilities settled	(1		)	(7	)	(9	)	(8	)
Revision in estimated cash flows	—			—		—		5
Effect of foreign currency rate change	—			—		(2	)	(1	)
Balance at end of period	$	45		94		89		90

(1) CenturyLink's acquisition of us caused our assets and liabilities, including our asset retirement obligations, to be recognized at fair value as of the date of acquisition.