Leases (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013
Property Subject to or Available for Operating Lease [Line Items]
Weighted average remaining term of tenant leases	6 years
Maximum Current Term	20 years
Tenant Leases 2016	$ 2,824,247
Tenant Leases 2017	2,757,293
Tenant Leases 2018	2,675,956
Tenant Leases 2019	2,548,699
Tenant Leases 2020	2,391,202
Tenant Leases thereafter	6,890,891
Total tenant leases	$ 20,088,288
Percentage of wireless infrastructure that has non-cancelable operating leases	78.00%
Operating Leases, Owned Land Under Tower, Expiration Term	20 years
Operating Leases, Leased Land Under Tower, Expiration Term	10 years
Operating leases 2016	$ 564,114
Operating leases 2017	571,325
Operating leases 2018	575,605
Operating leases 2019	579,376
Operating leases 2020	580,894
Operating leases thereafter	7,669,357
Total operating leases	10,540,671
Rental expense from operating leases	657,100	$ 645,300	$ 482,300
Contingent rental payments	$ 91,800	$ 88,300	$ 73,700
Greater than 10 Years, Inclusive of Renewals at the Company's Option [Member]
Property Subject to or Available for Operating Lease [Line Items]
Percentage of site rental gross margin that is derived from towers where the lease for the land has a final expiration date	90.00%
Greater than 20 Years, Inclusive of Renewals at the Company's Option [Member]
Property Subject to or Available for Operating Lease [Line Items]
Percentage of site rental gross margin that is derived from towers where the lease for the land has a final expiration date	75.00%

Maximum current term of tenant contracts, excluding the exercise of tenant renewal options.

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Maximum current lease expiration term, in years, of operating leases for tower under which the company owns land.

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- Definition

Rental expense incurred for leased assets.

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Operating Leases, Leased Land Under Tower, Expiration Term

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Percentage of site rental gross margin that is derived from towers where the lease for the land has a final expiration date.

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The percentage of towers, office space and equipment that is on land that has non-cancelable operating leases.

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Weighted-average remaining term of tenant leases, exclusive of renewals at the tenant's option

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Amount of required minimum rental payments for leases having an initial or remaining non-cancelable letter-terms in excess of one year.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 840
-SubTopic 10
-Section 55
-Paragraph 40
-Subparagraph (Note 3)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6584154&loc=d3e38371-112697

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Amount of required minimum rental payments for operating leases having an initial or remaining non-cancelable lease term in excess of one year due in the next fiscal year following the latest fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported on a rolling approach, from latest balance sheet date.

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Amount of required minimum rental payments for operating leases having an initial or remaining non-cancelable lease term in excess of one year due in the fifth fiscal year following the latest fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported on a rolling approach, from latest balance sheet date.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
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Amount of required minimum rental payments for operating leases having an initial or remaining non-cancelable lease term in excess of one year due in the fourth fiscal year following the latest fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported on a rolling approach, from latest balance sheet date.

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Amount of required minimum rental payments for operating leases having an initial or remaining non-cancelable lease term in excess of one year due in the third fiscal year following the latest fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported on a rolling approach, from latest balance sheet date.

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Amount of required minimum rental payments for operating leases having an initial or remaining non-cancelable lease term in excess of one year due in the second fiscal year following the latest fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported on a rolling approach, from latest balance sheet date.

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Amount of required minimum rental payments for operating leases having an initial or remaining non-cancelable lease term in excess of one year due after the fifth fiscal year following the latest fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported on a rolling approach, from latest balance sheet date.

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Future minimum rental payments in aggregate as of the balance sheet date under operating leases.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 840
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6454179&loc=d3e41551-112718

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Future rental payments receivable within one year of the balance sheet date under an operating lease.

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Future rental payments receivable within the fifth year from the balance sheet date under an operating lease.

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Future rental payments receivable within the fourth year from the balance sheet date under an operating lease.

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Future rental payments receivable within the third year from the balance sheet date under an operating lease.

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Future rental payments receivable within the second year from the balance sheet date under an operating lease.

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Future minimum lease payments receivable under operating leases for periods greater than five years following the balance sheet date.

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- Definition

The increases or decreases in lease payments that result from changes occurring after the inception of the lease in the factors (other than the passage of time) on which lease payments are based, except that any escalation of minimum lease payments relating to increases in construction or acquisition cost of the leased property or for increases in some measure of cost or value during the construction or preconstruction period, are excluded from contingent rentals. Contingent rentals also may include amounts for which the triggering events have not yet occurred or the specified targets for which have not yet been achieved (such as sales based percentage rent), but which events are considered probable of occurring or which specified targets are considered probable of being achieved.

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Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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