Long-Term Debt, Financing and Capital Lease Obligations (Narrative) (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended					3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2013 site years	Mar. 31, 2012	Mar. 31, 2013 Letter Of Credit Required By The FCCs Report And Order [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Convertible Debt [Member] Sprint Nextel Corporation [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Senior Notes [Member] Sprint Nextel Corporation Senior Notes [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Line of Credit [Member] Secured Equipment Credit Facility [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Line of Credit [Member] Secured Equipment Credit Facility [Member]	May 29, 2012 Line of Credit [Member] Secured Equipment Credit Facility [Member]	Apr. 02, 2013 Revolving Credit Facility [Member] Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility expires in 2018 [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Revolving Credit Facility [Member] Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility expires in 2018 [Member]	Feb. 28, 2013 Revolving Credit Facility [Member] Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility expires in 2018 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Revolving Credit Facility [Member] Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility expires in 2018 [Member]	May 21, 2010 Revolving Credit Facility [Member] Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility expires in 2013 [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Letter of Credit [Member] Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility expires in 2018 [Member]	Oct. 22, 2012 Sprint Nextel [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Sprint Nextel [Member] Line of Credit [Member] Secured Equipment Credit Facility [Member]
Schedule of Capitalization, Long-term Debt [Line Items]
Principal of debt outstanding, including the credit facilities	$ 16,900,000,000
Long-term debt issued by 100% owned subsidiary and is fully and unconditionally guaranteed by the parent	7,100,000,000
Interest Costs Capitalized	15,000,000	115,000,000
Cash interest payments	305,000,000	179,000,000
Redeemable notes	19,800,000,000
Principal amount of notes with the right to require the Company to repurchase on change of control	11,100,000,000			3,100,000,000
Percentage of principal amount required to repurchase notes on change of control	101.00%
Line of Credit Facility, Maximum Borrowing Capacity									3,000,000,000		2,800,000,000		2,200,000,000
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate, Stated Percentage				1.00%	9.25%										1.00%
Principal amount outstanding of notes which limits the ability of the parent to incur additional debt					200,000,000
Convertible Debt															3,100,000,000
Line of Credit, Amount Withdrew						500,000,000
Long-term Debt, Percentage Bearing Fixed Interest, Percentage Rate						2.03%
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate, Effective Percentage								6.00%
Line of credit, maximum drawdown during each tranche								500,000,000
Line of Credit Facility, Amount Outstanding						445,000,000	296,000,000			0		0				445,000,000
Debt Instrument, Annual Principal Payment						55,000,000
Letters of Credit Outstanding, Amount			859,000,000											925,000,000
Line of Credit Facility, Remaining Borrowing Capacity										$ 1,500,000,000
Number of cell sites leased back	3,000
Term in years for cell sites leased back renewal options	20
Threshold of voting security to eliminate the potential for the equity method investee to be considered a subsidiary	50.00%
Ratio of total indebtedness to adjusted EBITDA	2.5