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Debt
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2023
Debt Disclosure [Abstract]  
Debt
Note 12 Debt
Revolving Credit Agreement
At December 31, 2023, UScellular had a revolving credit agreement available for general corporate purposes. Amounts under the agreement may be borrowed, repaid and reborrowed from time to time until maturity in July 2026. 

The following table summarizes the revolving credit agreement as of December 31, 2023:
(Dollars in millions) 
Maximum borrowing capacity$300 
Letters of credit outstanding$— 
Amount borrowed$— 
Amount available for use$300 
Borrowings under the revolving credit agreement bear interest at a rate of Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) plus 1.60%. UScellular may select a borrowing period of either one, two, three or six months (or other period of twelve months or less if requested by UScellular and approved by the lenders). UScellular’s credit spread and commitment fees on its revolving credit agreement may be subject to increase if its current credit rating from nationally recognized credit rating agencies is lowered, and may be subject to decrease if the rating is raised. 
Term Loan Agreements
The following table summarizes the term loan credit agreements as of December 31, 2023:
Term Loan 1Term Loan 2Term Loan 3Total
(Dollars in millions)
Maximum borrowing capacity$300 $300 $200 $800 
Amount borrowed and outstanding$292 $293 $198 $783 
Amount borrowed and repaid$8 $7 $2 $17 
Amount available for use$— $— $— $— 
Interest rate
SOFR plus 1.60%
SOFR plus 2.10%
SOFR plus 2.60%
Maturity dateJuly 2026July 2028July 2031
Quarterly installments
$2 million from March 2023 to December 2023; $4 million from March 2024 to December 2025; $8 million from March 2026 to maturity date
$0.75 million from December 2021 to maturity date
$0.5 million from December 2022 to September 2026; $1 million from December 2026 to maturity date
Export Credit Financing Agreement
At December 31, 2023, UScellular had a $150 million term loan credit facility with Export Development Canada to finance (or refinance) imported equipment, including equipment purchased prior to entering the term loan credit facility agreement. Borrowings bear interest at a rate of SOFR plus 1.60% and are due and payable on the five-year anniversary of the first borrowing, which is in January 2027. As of December 31, 2023, UScellular has borrowed the full amount available under the agreement.
Receivables Securitization Agreement
At December 31, 2023, UScellular, through its subsidiaries, had a $450 million receivables securitization agreement that permits securitized borrowings using its equipment installment plan receivables. In September 2023, UScellular amended the agreement to extend the maturity date to September 2025. Amounts under the agreement may be borrowed, repaid and reborrowed from time to time until maturity. Unless the agreement is amended to extend the maturity date, repayments based on receivable collections commence in October 2025. The outstanding borrowings bear interest at a rate of the lender's cost of funds (which has historically tracked closely to SOFR) plus 1.15%. During 2023, UScellular borrowed $315 million and repaid $440 million under the agreement. As of December 31, 2023, the outstanding borrowings under the agreement were $150 million and the unused borrowing capacity was $300 million, subject to sufficient collateral to satisfy the asset borrowing base provisions of the agreement. As of December 31, 2023, the USCC Master Note Trust held $304 million of assets available to be pledged as collateral for the receivables securitization agreement.
In connection with entering into the receivables securitization agreement in 2017, UScellular formed a wholly-owned subsidiary, USCC Master Note Trust (Trust), which qualifies as a bankruptcy remote entity. Under the terms of the agreement, UScellular, through its subsidiaries, transfers eligible equipment installment receivables to the Trust. The Trust then utilizes the transferred assets as collateral for notes payables issued to third-party financial institutions. Since UScellular retains effective control of the transferred assets in the Trust, any activity associated with this receivables securitization agreement will be treated as a secured borrowing. Therefore, UScellular will continue to report equipment installment receivables and any related balances on the Consolidated Balance Sheet. Cash received from borrowings under the receivables securitization agreement will be reported as Debt. Refer to Note 14 — Variable Interest Entities for additional information.
In January 2024, UScellular repaid $50 million under the agreement.
Repurchase Agreement
At December 31, 2023, UScellular, through a subsidiary (the repo subsidiary), had a repurchase agreement to borrow up to $200 million, subject to the availability of eligible equipment installment plan receivables and the agreement of the lender. In January 2023, UScellular amended the repurchase agreement to extend the expiration date to January 2024. The outstanding borrowings bear interest at a rate of the lender's cost of funds (which has historically tracked closely to SOFR) plus 1.35%. As of December 31, 2022, the outstanding borrowings under the agreement were $60 million and were included in Other current liabilities in the Consolidated Balance Sheet. During 2023, the repo subsidiary repaid $60 million under the agreement. As of December 31, 2023, there were no outstanding borrowings under the agreement and the unused borrowing capacity was $200 million, which was restricted from being borrowed due to covenants within the TDS and UScellular credit agreements that limit secured borrowings on an enterprise-wide basis. As of December 31, 2023, UScellular held $669 million of assets available for inclusion in the repurchase facility; these assets are distinct from the assets held by the USCC Master Note Trust for UScellular's receivables securitization agreement.
The repurchase agreement expired in January 2024.
Debt Covenants and Other
The revolving credit agreement, term loan agreements, export credit financing agreement and receivables securitization agreement require UScellular to comply with certain affirmative and negative covenants, which include certain financial covenants that may restrict the borrowing capacity available. In March 2023, the agreements were amended to require UScellular to maintain the Consolidated Leverage Ratio as of the end of any fiscal quarter at a level not to exceed the following: 4.25 to 1.00 from January 1, 2023 through March 31, 2024; 4.00 to 1.00 from April 1, 2024 through March 31, 2025; 3.75 to 1.00 from April 1, 2025 and thereafter. UScellular is also required to maintain the Consolidated Interest Coverage Ratio at a level not lower than 3.00 to 1.00 as of the end of any fiscal quarter. UScellular believes that it was in compliance as of December 31, 2023 with all such financial covenants.
In connection with the revolving credit agreement, term loan agreements and export credit financing agreement, TDS and UScellular entered into subordination agreements together with the administrative agents for the lenders under each agreement. Pursuant to these subordination agreements, (a) any consolidated funded indebtedness from UScellular to TDS will be unsecured and (b) any (i) consolidated funded indebtedness from UScellular to TDS (other than “refinancing indebtedness” as defined in the subordination agreements) in excess of $105 million and (ii) refinancing indebtedness in excess of $250 million will be subordinated and made junior in right of payment to the prior payment in full of obligations to the lenders under each agreement. As of December 31, 2023, UScellular had no outstanding consolidated funded indebtedness or refinancing indebtedness that was subordinated to each agreement pursuant to the subordination agreements.
Certain UScellular wholly-owned subsidiaries have jointly and severally unconditionally guaranteed the payment and performance of the obligations of UScellular under the revolving credit agreement, term loan agreements and export credit agreement. Other subsidiaries that meet certain criteria will be required to provide a similar guaranty in the future. UScellular entered into a performance guaranty whereby UScellular guarantees the performance of certain wholly-owned subsidiaries under the receivables securitization agreement and repurchase agreement.
Other Long-Term Debt
Long-term debt as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, was as follows:
    December 31, 2023December 31, 2022
Issuance
date
Maturity
date
Call
date (any
time on
or after)
Principal
Amount
Less
Unamortized
discount
and debt
issuance
costs		Total
Principal
Amount
Less
Unamortized
discount
and debt
issuance
costs
Total
(Dollars in millions)       
Unsecured Senior Notes       
6.70%Dec 2003
and
June 2004		Dec 2033Dec 2003
and
June 2004		$544 $11 $533 $544 $11 $533 
6.25%Aug 2020Sep 2069Sep 2025500 17 483 500 17 483 
5.50%Dec 2020Mar 2070Mar 2026500 17 483 500 17 483 
5.50%May 2021Jun 2070Jun 2026500 16 484 500 16 484 
Term Loans783 4 779 796 6 790 
EIP Securitization150 — 150 275 — 275 
Export Credit Financing150 1 149 150 1 149 
Finance lease obligations 3 — 3 3 — 3 
Total long-term debt $3,130 $66 $3,064 $3,268 $68 $3,200 
Long-term debt, current $20 $13 
Long-term debt, noncurrent $3,044 $3,187 
UScellular may redeem its 6.25% Senior Notes, 5.5% March 2070 Senior Notes and 5.5% June 2070 Senior Notes, in whole or in part at any time after the respective call date, at a redemption price equal to 100% of the principal amount redeemed plus accrued and unpaid interest. UScellular may redeem the 6.7% Senior Notes, in whole or in part, at any time prior to maturity at a redemption price equal to the greater of (a) 100% of the principal amount of such notes, plus accrued and unpaid interest, or (b) the sum of the present values of the remaining scheduled payments of principal and interest thereon discounted to the redemption date on a semi-annual basis at the Treasury Rate plus 30 basis points. 
Interest on the Senior Notes outstanding at December 31, 2023, is payable quarterly, with the exception of the 6.7% Senior Notes for which interest is payable semi-annually.
The annual requirements for principal payments on long-term debt are approximately $20 million, $20 million, $268 million, $158 million and $286 million for the years 2024 through 2028, respectively. These amounts do not include payments on the $150 million of outstanding borrowings under the receivables securitization agreement. If the maturity date of the facility is not extended, principal repayments begin in October 2025. Principal repayments are not scheduled but are instead based on actual receivable collections.
The covenants associated with UScellular’s long-term debt obligations, among other things, restrict UScellular’s ability, subject to certain exclusions, to incur additional liens, enter into sale and leaseback transactions, and sell, consolidate or merge assets.
UScellular’s long-term debt notes do not contain any provisions resulting in acceleration of the maturities of outstanding debt in the event of a change in UScellular’s credit rating.