Revenues (Notes)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Revenue from Contract with Customer [Abstract]

Revenue from Contract with Customer [Text Block]

Revenues

Site rental revenues

The Company generates site rental revenues from its core business by providing tenants with access, including space or capacity, to its shared communications infrastructure via long-term tenant contracts in various forms, including lease, license, sublease and service agreements. Providing such access over the length of the tenant contract term represents the Company’s sole performance obligation under its tenant contracts.

Site rental revenues from the Company's tenant contracts are recognized on a straight-line, ratable basis over the fixed, non-cancelable term of the relevant tenant contract, which generally ranges from five to 15 years for wireless tenants and three to 20 years for the Company's fiber solutions tenants (including from organizations with high-bandwidth and multi-location demands), regardless of whether the payments from the tenant are received in equal monthly amounts during the life of the tenant contract. Certain of the Company's tenant contracts contain (1) fixed escalation clauses (such as fixed dollar or fixed percentage increases) or inflation-based escalation clauses (such as those tied to the CPI), (2) multiple renewal periods exercisable at the tenant's option and (3) only limited termination rights at the applicable tenant's option through the current term. If the payment terms call for fixed escalations, upfront payments, or rent-free periods, the revenue is recognized on a straight-line basis over the fixed, non-cancelable term of the agreement. When calculating straight-line rental revenues, the Company considers all fixed elements of tenant contractual escalation provisions, even if such escalation provisions contain a variable element in addition to a minimum. The Company's assets related to straight-line site rental revenues include current amounts of $123 million included in "Other current assets" and non-current amounts of $1.4 billion included in "Deferred site rental receivables" as of March 31, 2020. Amounts billed or received prior to being earned are deferred and reflected in "Deferred revenues" and "Other long-term liabilities." Amounts to which the Company has an unconditional right to payment, which are related to both satisfied or partially satisfied performance obligations, are recorded within "Receivables, net" on the Company's condensed consolidated balance sheet.

Services and other revenues

As part of the Company’s effort to provide comprehensive communications infrastructure solutions, as an ancillary business, the Company offers certain services primarily relating to its Towers segment, predominately consisting of (1) site development services and (2) installation services. Upon contract commencement, the Company assesses its services to tenants and identifies performance obligations for each promise to provide a distinct service.

The Company may have multiple performance obligations for site development services, which primarily include: structural analysis, zoning, permitting and construction drawings. For each of the above performance obligations, services revenues are recognized at completion of the applicable performance obligation, which represents the point at which the Company believes it has transferred goods or services to the tenant. The revenue recognized is based on an allocation of the transaction price among the performance obligations in a respective contract based on estimated standalone selling price. The volume and mix of site development services may vary among contracts and may include a combination of some or all of the above performance obligations. Payments generally are due within 45 to 60 days and generally do not contain variable-consideration provisions. The transaction price for the Company's tower installation services consists of amounts for (1) permanent improvements to the Company's towers that represent a lease component and (2) the performance of the service. Amounts under the Company's tower installation service agreements that represent a lease component are recognized as site rental revenues on a straight-line basis over the length of the associated estimated lease term. For the performance of the installation service, the Company has one performance obligation, which is satisfied at the time of the applicable installation or augmentation and recognized as services and other revenues. Since performance obligations are typically satisfied prior to receiving payment from tenants, the unconditional right to payment is

recorded within "Receivables, net" on the Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheet. The vast majority of the Company’s services generally have a duration of one year or less.

Additional information on revenues

The following additional information on revenues reflect the impact of the Historical Adjustments, where applicable, as discussed in note 2. As of January 1, 2020 and March 31, 2020, $2.9 billion and $2.8 billion, respectively, of unrecognized revenue was reported in "Deferred revenues" and "Other long-term liabilities" on our condensed consolidated balance sheet. During the three months ended March 31, 2020, approximately $160 million of the January 1, 2020 unrecognized revenue balance was recognized as revenue. During the three months ended March 31, 2019, approximately $135 million of the January 1, 2019 unrecognized revenue balance was recognized as revenue.

The following table is a summary of the non-cancelable contracted amounts owed to the Company by tenants pursuant to tenant contracts in effect as of March 31, 2020.

	Nine Months Ending December 31,		Years Ending December 31,
	2020		2021		2022		2023		2024		Thereafter		Total
Contracted amounts(a)	$	3,257	$	4,071	$	3,842	$	3,213	$	2,489	$	7,219	$	24,091

(a) Based on the nature of the contract, tenant contracts are accounted for pursuant to relevant lease accounting (ASC 842) or revenue accounting (ASC 606) guidance. Excludes amounts related to services, as those contracts generally have a duration of one year or less.

See note 11 for further information regarding the Company's operating segments.