Leases (Notes)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Leases

The primary leased asset classes of the Company include real estate, dark fiber, colocation facilities and other equipment. The lease agreements include both lease and non-lease components, which the Company accounts for separately depending on the election made for each leased asset class. For real estate and dark fiber leased asset classes, the Company accounts for lease and non-lease components as a single lease component and includes all fixed payments in the measurement of lease liabilities and lease assets. For colocation facilities leased asset class, the Company accounts for lease and non-lease components separately including only the fixed lease payment component in the measurement of lease liabilities and lease assets.

Lease assets and lease liabilities are initially recognized based on the present value of the future lease payments over the expected lease term. As for most leases the implicit rate is not readily determinable, the Company uses a discount rate in determining the present value of future payments based on the yield-to-maturity of the Company’s secured publicly traded United States dollars denominated debt instruments interpolating the duration of the debt to the term of the executed lease.

The Company’s leases have base rent periods and some with optional renewal periods. Leases with base rent periods of less than 12 months are not recorded on the balance sheet. For purposes of measurement of lease liabilities, the expected lease terms may include renewal options when it is reasonably certain that the Company will exercise such options.

Operating lease expenses were $506 million, $482 million and $463 million for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively, inclusive of both short-term lease costs and variable lease costs that were not included in the measurement of operating lease liabilities.

Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of operating lease liabilities, recorded as operating cash flows in the statements of cash flows, were $369 million, $345 million and $327 million for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Operating lease right-of-use assets obtained in exchange for operating lease obligations were $335 million, $221 million and $368 million for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Supplemental balance sheet information related to leases is as follows.


	December 31,
	2023			2022
Operating lease right-of-use assets:
Included within other noncurrent assets	$	1,270		$	1,235

Operating lease liabilities:
Current portion included within accounts payable, accrued and other current liabilities	$	290		$	295
Long-term portion included within other long-term liabilities	1,128			1,083
	$	1,418		$	1,378

Weighted average remaining lease term for operating leases	5.4 years			5.6 years
Weighted average discount rate for operating leases	4.5		%	3.7		%

Maturities of operating lease liabilities as of December 31, 2023 are as follows.


2024	$	374
2025	341
2026	272
2027	218
2028	172
Thereafter	274
Undiscounted lease cash flow commitments	1,651
Reconciling impact from discounting	(233)
Lease liabilities on consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2023	$	1,418