Acquisitions, Divestitures and Exchanges, acquisitions (Details) (Airadigm Communications, Inc., USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	0 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 10, 2014	Sep. 30, 2014
Airadigm Communications, Inc.
Acquisitions, divestitures and exchanges
Purchase price	$ 91.5
Description of acquired entity		On May 23, 2014, U.S. Cellular entered into a License Purchase and Customer Recommendation Agreement with Airadigm Communications, Inc. (“Airadigm”). TDS owns 100% of the common stock of Airadigm. Pursuant to the License Purchase and Customer Recommendation Agreement, on September 10, 2014, Airadigm transferred to U.S. Cellular Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) spectrum licenses and certain tower assets in certain markets in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and Michigan, in consideration for $91.5 million in cash. Since both parties to this transaction are controlled by TDS, upon closing, U.S. Cellular recorded the transferred assets at Airadigm’s net book value of $15.2 million. The difference between the consideration paid and the net book value of the transferred assets was recorded as a reduction of U.S. Cellular’s Retained earnings. In addition, a deferred tax asset was recorded for the difference between the consideration paid and the net book value of the transferred assets, which increased U.S. Cellular’s Additional paid-in capital.
Book value transferred assets	$ 15.2