Commitments and Contingencies (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Commitments and Contingencies

Schedule of future maturities of long-term debt, finance lease and contractual obligations

	Payments due by period
	Total		2021		2022		2023		2024		2025		Thereafter
	(In thousands)
Long-term debt obligations	$	16,637,809	$	2,027,604	$	2,027,112	$	1,528,030	$	3,027,186	$	2,007,641	$	6,020,236
Interest expense on long-term debt		3,178,253		733,927	$	666,192	$	510,411	$	460,223	$	330,000	$	477,500
Finance lease obligations (1)		162,174		58,379		38,993		35,478		29,324		—		—
Interest expense on finance lease obligations (1)		28,084		11,923		9,314		5,464		1,383		—		—
Other long-term obligations (2)		4,349,902		350,154		99,048		136,544		173,146		196,000		3,395,010
Operating lease obligations (1)		138,141		71,614		35,074		16,908		9,850		3,205		1,490
Purchase obligations		1,933,440		1,897,777		26,947		8,716		—		—		—
Total	$	26,427,803	$	5,151,378	$	2,902,680	$	2,241,551	$	3,701,112	$	2,536,846	$	9,894,236

(1) See Note 10 for further information on leases and the adoption of ASC 842.

(2) Represents minimum payments related to tower obligations, certain 5G Network Deployment commitments and satellite related and other obligations.

Summary of Wireless Spectrum Licenses

	As of
	December 31, 2020		Build-Out Deadlines
	Carrying				Expiration
	Amount		Interim	Final	Date
	(In thousands)
Owned:
DBS Licenses (1)	$	677,409
700 MHz Licenses		711,871	June 14, 2022 (2)	June 14, 2023 (4)	June 2023
AWS-4 Licenses		1,940,000	June 14, 2022 (2)	June 14, 2023 (4)	June 2023
H Block Licenses		1,671,506	June 14, 2022 (2)	June 14, 2023 (5)	June 2023
600 MHz Licenses		6,211,154		June 14, 2025 (6)	June 2029
MVDDS Licenses (1)		24,000			August 2024
LMDS Licenses (1)		—			September 2028
28 GHz Licenses		2,883		October 2, 2029 (7)	October 2029
24 GHz Licenses		11,772		December 11, 2029 (7)	December 2029
37 GHz, 39 GHz and 47 GHz Licenses		202,533		June 4, 2030 (7)	June 2030
Subtotal		11,453,128
Non-controlling Investments:
Northstar		5,618,930	October 2021 (3)	October 2027 (8)	October 2027 (8)
SNR		4,271,459	October 2021 (3)	October 2027 (8)	October 2027 (8)
Total AWS-3 Licenses		9,890,389
Capitalized Interest (9)		5,560,422
Total	$	26,903,939

(1) The build-out deadlines for these licenses have been met.

(2) For these licenses, we must offer 5G broadband service to at least 20% of the United States population and have developed a core network by this date.

(3) For these licenses, Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless must provide reliable signal coverage and offer service to at least 40% of the population of each license area by this date.

(4) For these licenses, we must offer 5G broadband service to 70% of the United States population by this date; provided, however, if by June 14, 2023, we are offering 5G broadband service with respect to these licenses to at least 50% of the population of the United States, the final deadline shall be further extended automatically to June 14, 2025, for us to construct and offer 5G broadband service to at least 70% of the population in each Economic Area (which is a service area established by the FCC) with respect to these licenses.

(5) For these licenses, we must offer 5G broadband service to at least 70% of the United States population by this date; provided, however, that if by June 14, 2023, we are offering 5G Broadband Service with respect to these licenses to at least 50% of the population of the United States, the final deadline shall be further extended automatically to June 14, 2025, for us to construct and offer 5G broadband service to at least 75% of the population in each Economic Area with respect to these licenses.

(6) For these licenses, we must offer 5G broadband service to at least 75% of the population in each Partial Economic Area (which are service areas established by the FCC) by this date.

(7) There are a variety of build-out options and associated build-out metrics associated with these licenses.

(8) For these licenses, Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless must provide reliable signal coverage and offer service to at least 75% of the population of each license area by this date. If the AWS-3 interim build-out requirement is not met, the AWS-3 expiration date and the AWS-3 final build-out requirement may be accelerated by two years (from October 2027 to October 2025) for each AWS-3 License area in which Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless do not meet the requirement.

(9) See Note 2 for further information.