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Long-term debt fully and unconditionally guaranteed

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Long-term debt issued by subsidiary and is guaranteed by the parent

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Number Of Cell Sites Leased Back

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Amount of outstanding principal due under the parent corporations debt instruments at the end of the reporting period.

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Percentage of voting rights to be below to eliminate Clearwire being considered a subsidiary

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Ratio Of Total Indebtedness To Adjusted EBITDA

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Ratio Of Total Indebtedness To Adjusted EBITDA, Denominator

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Notes redeemable at the Company's discretion plus accrued interest

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Term In Years For Cell Sites Leased Back

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Term in years for renewal options

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Interest rate stated in the contractual debt agreement.

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The percentage of ownership of common stock or equity participation in the investee accounted for under the equity method of accounting.

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The amount of cash paid for interest during the period.

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The total amount of the contingent obligation under letters of credit outstanding as of the reporting date.

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The carrying value as of the balance sheet date of the current and noncurrent portions of long-term obligations drawn from a line of credit, which is a bank's commitment to make loans up to a specific amount. Examples of items that might be included in the application of this element may consist of letters of credit, standby letters of credit, and revolving credit arrangements, under which borrowings can be made up to a maximum amount as of any point in time conditional on satisfaction of specified terms before, as of and after the date of drawdowns on the line. Includes short-term obligations that would normally be classified as current liabilities but for which (a) postbalance sheet date issuance of a long term obligation to refinance the short term obligation on a long term basis, or (b) the enterprise has entered into a financing agreement that clearly permits the enterprise to refinance the short-term obligation on a long term basis and the following conditions are met (1) the agreement does not expire within 1 year and is not cancelable by the lender except for violation of an objectively determinable provision, (2) no violation exists at the BS date, and (3) the lender has entered into the financing agreement is expected to be financially capable of honoring the agreement.

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Amount of current borrowing capacity under the credit facility considering any current restrictions on the amount that could be borrowed (for example, borrowings may be limited by the amount of current assets), but without considering any amounts currently outstanding under the facility.

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The cash outflow for debt initially having maturity due after one year or beyond the normal operating cycle, if longer.

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Long-Term Debt, Financing and Capital Lease Obligations (Narrative) (Details) (USD $) Share data in Millions, unless otherwise specified	0 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
	Jan. 31, 2011	Jun. 30, 2011 years gHZ mHZ market site	Jun. 30, 2010	Jun. 30, 2011 Letter Of Credit Required By The FCCs Report And Order [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Clearwire [Member]	Jun. 30, 2011 Clearwire Class B Voting [Member]	Jun. 01, 2011 Clearwire Class B Voting [Member]	May 31, 2011 Clearwire Class B Voting [Member]	Jun. 30, 2011 Clearwire Class B Non Voting [Member]	May 21, 2010 New Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility [Member]
Principal of debt outstanding, including the credit facilities		$ 4,300,000,000
Long-term debt issued by subsidiaries and is guaranteed by the parent		13,500,000,000
Long-term debt fully and unconditionally guaranteed		8,700,000,000
Cash interest payments		529,000,000	739,000,000
Redeemable notes		16,800,000,000
Repayments of Long-term Debt	1,650,000,000
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate, Stated Percentage	7.625%
Letters of Credit Outstanding, Amount		1,200,000,000		1,100,000,000
Long-term Line of Credit										2,100,000,000
Borrowing capacity available under revolving bank credit facility		$ 900,000,000
Number of cell sites leased back		3,000
Term in years for cell sites leased back		10
Term in years for cell sites leased back renewal options		20
Sprint share in percentage of non-controlling interest in Clearwire						49.70%		53.70%	54.00%
Percentage of voting rights to be below to eliminate Clearwire being considered a subsidiary					50.00%
Equity Method Investment, Shares Surrendered							78
Ratio of total indebtedness to adjusted EBITDA, numerator		2.5
Ratio of total indebtedness to adjusted EBITDA, denominator		1