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Leases (Notes)
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2019
Leases [Abstract]  
Leases [Text Block]
Leases
The following information is presented with respect to the Company's contracts that are subject to the new lease accounting standard and is exclusive of those contracts outside the scope of that standard.
Lessor Tenant Leases
See note 3 for further information regarding the contractual amounts owed to the Company pursuant to site rental contracts in effect as of March 31, 2019 and other information.
Lessee Operating Leases
The components of the Company's operating lease expense is as follows:
 
Three Months Ended March 31,
 
2019
Lease cost:
 
Operating lease expense(a)
$
160

Variable lease expense(b)
32

Total lease expense(c)
$
192


    
(a)
Represents the Company's operating lease expense related to its ROU assets for the three months ended March 31, 2019.
(b)
Represents the Company's expense related to contingent payments for operating leases (such as payments based on revenues derived from the communications infrastructure located on the leased asset) for the three months ended March 31, 2019. Such contingencies are recognized as expense in the period they are resolved.
(c)
Excludes those direct operating expenses accounted for pursuant to accounting guidance outside the scope of ASC 842.
Lessee Finance Leases
The vast majority of the Company's finance leases are related to the towers subject to prepaid master lease agreements with AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile and are recorded as "Property and equipment, net" on the condensed consolidated balance sheet. See note 1 for further discussion of the Company's prepaid master lease agreements and note 2 for further information regarding the Company's adoption method of the new lease standard. Finance leases and associated leasehold improvements related to gross property and equipment and accumulated depreciation were $4.4 billion and $1.9 billion, respectively, as of March 31, 2019. For the period ended March 31, 2019, the Company has recorded $36 million to "Depreciation, amortization and accretion" related to finance leases.
Other Lessee Information
As of March 31, 2019, the Company's weighted-average remaining lease term and weighted-average discount rate for operating leases were 18 years and 4.6%, respectively.
The following table is a summary of the Company's maturities of operating lease liabilities as of March 31, 2019:
 
Nine months ending December 31,
 
Years ending December 31,
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2019
 
2020
 
2021
 
2022
 
2023
 
Thereafter
 
Total undiscounted lease payments
 
Less: Imputed interest
 
Total operating lease liabilities
Operating leases(a)
$
395

 
$
520

 
$
514

 
$
509

 
$
504

 
$
6,304

 
$
8,746

 
$
(3,121
)
 
$
5,625

    
(a)
Excludes the Company's contingent payments for operating leases (such as payments based on revenues derived from the communications infrastructure located on the leased asset) as such arrangements are excluded from the Company's operating lease liability. Such contingencies are recognized as expense in the period they are resolved.
Comparative Information from 2018 Form 10-K
The Company adopted ASC 842 using a modified retrospective approach as of the effective date, without adjusting the comparative periods and therefore, as required by ASC 842, and has included the following comparative information from note 14 to the consolidated financial statements in its 2018 Form 10-K.
The operating lease payments included in the table below include payments for certain renewal periods at the Company's option that are deemed reasonably assured to be exercised and an estimate of contingent payments based on revenues and gross margins derived from existing tenant leases.
 
Years ending December 31,
 
2019
 
2020
 
2021
 
2022
 
2023
 
Thereafter
 
Total
Operating leases
$
640

 
$
631

 
$
628

 
$
623

 
$
619

 
$
8,054

 
$
11,195