Background

General

We are an integrated communications company engaged primarily in providing an array of services to our residential and business customers. Our communications services include local and long-distance voice, broadband, Multi-Protocol Label Switching ("MPLS"), private line (including special access), Ethernet, colocation, hosting (including cloud hosting and managed hosting), data integration, video, network, public access, Voice over Internet Protocol ("VoIP"), information technology and other ancillary services.

On October 31, 2016, we entered into a definitive merger agreement under which we agreed to acquire Level 3 Communications, Inc. ("Level 3") in a cash and stock transaction. See Note 2—Pending Acquisition of Level 3 for additional information. On November 3, 2016, we entered into a definitive stock purchase agreement with a consortium led by BC Partners, Inc. and Medina Capital to sell our data centers and colocation business for a combination of cash and equity. See Note 3—Sale of Data Centers and Colocation Business for additional information.

Basis of Presentation

Our consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2016, which was derived from our audited consolidated financial statements, and our unaudited interim consolidated financial statements provided herein have been prepared in accordance with the instructions for Form 10-Q. Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America have been condensed or omitted pursuant to rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"); however, in our opinion, the disclosures made are adequate to make the information presented not misleading. We believe that these consolidated financial statements include all normal recurring adjustments necessary to fairly present the results for the interim periods. The consolidated results of operations and cash flows for the first three months of the year are not necessarily indicative of the consolidated results of operations and cash flows that might be expected for the entire year. These consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016.

The accompanying consolidated financial statements include our accounts and the accounts of our subsidiaries. Intercompany amounts and transactions with our consolidated subsidiaries have been eliminated.

To simplify the overall presentation of our consolidated financial statements, we report immaterial amounts attributable to noncontrolling interests in certain of our subsidiaries as follows: (i) income attributable to noncontrolling interests in other (expense) income, net, (ii) equity attributable to noncontrolling interests in additional paid-in capital and (iii) cash flows attributable to noncontrolling interests in other, net financing activities.

We pay dividends out of retained earnings to the extent we have retained earnings on the date the dividend is declared. If the dividend is in excess of our retained earnings on the declaration date, then the excess is drawn from our additional paid-in capital.

We reclassified certain prior period amounts to conform to the current period presentation, including the categorization of our revenues and our segment reporting. See Note 9—Segment Information for additional information. These changes had no impact on total operating revenues, total operating expenses or net income for any period.

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements

In the first quarter of 2017, we adopted Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-09, “Improvements to Employee Share Based Compensation” (“ASU 2016-09”), and ASU 2017-07, “Improving the Presentation of Net Periodic Pension Cost and Net Periodic Postretirement Benefit Cost” (“ASU 2017-07”).

Share-based Compensation

ASU 2016-09 modified the accounting and associated income tax accounting for share-based compensation in order to reduce the cost and complexity associated with previous U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). The primary provisions of ASU 2016-09 that affect our consolidated financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2017 are:


1.	A reclassification of the income tax effect associated with the difference between the expense recognized for share-based payments and the related tax deduction from additional paid-in capital to income tax expense. This change was applied on a prospective basis and resulted in a $7 million increase in income tax expense for the three months ended March 31, 2017.


2.	We elected to change our accounting policy to account for forfeitures of share-based payment grants as they occur as opposed to our previous policy of estimating the forfeitures on the grant date. The cumulative effect of adopting this policy as of January 1, 2017 resulted in an increase of $3 million, net of a $2 million tax effect, in retained earnings (accumulated deficit).

Net Periodic Pension and Postretirement Benefit Costs

ASU 2017-07 modified the presentation of net periodic pension and postretirement benefit costs and requires the service cost component to be reported separately from the other components in order to provide more useful information. Under ASU 2017-07, the service cost component of net periodic pension and postretirement benefit costs is required to be presented in the same expense category as the related salary and wages for the employee. The other components of the net periodic pension and postretirement benefit costs are required to be recognized below operating income in other (expense) income, net in our consolidated statements of operations. This change was applied on a retrospective basis to all previous periods to match the current period presentation. This retrospective application resulted in a $6 million reduction in operating income and a corresponding decrease in total other expense, net for the three months ended March 31, 2016.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Goodwill Impairment

On January 26, 2017, The Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued ASU 2017-04, “Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment” (“ASU 2017-04”). ASU 2017-04 simplifies the impairment testing for goodwill by changing the measurement for goodwill impairment. Under current rules, we are required to compute the implied fair value of goodwill to measure the impairment amount if the carrying value of a reporting unit exceeds its fair value. Under ASU 2017-04, the goodwill impairment charge will equal the excess of the reporting unit carrying value above fair value, limited to the amount of goodwill assigned to the reporting unit.

We are required to adopt the provisions of ASU 2017-04 for any goodwill impairment tests, including our required annual test, occurring after January 1, 2020, but have the option to early adopt for any impairment test that we are required to perform. We have not determined if we will elect to early adopt the provisions of ASU 2017-04. The provisions of ASU 2017-04 would not have affected our last goodwill impairment assessment, but no assurance can be provided that the simplified testing methodology will not affect our goodwill impairment assessment in the future.

Income Taxes

On October 24, 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-16, “Intra-Entity Transfers of Assets Other Than Inventory” ("ASU 2016-16"). ASU 2016-16 eliminates the current prohibition on the recognition of the income tax effects on the transfer of assets among our subsidiaries. After adoption of this ASU, the income tax effects associated with these asset transfers, except for the transfer of inventory, will be recognized in the period the asset is transferred versus the current deferral and recognition upon either the sale of the asset to a third party or over the remaining useful life of the asset. We are currently reviewing the requirements of this ASU and evaluating the impact on our consolidated financial statements.

We are required to adopt the provisions of ASU 2016-16 on January 1, 2018, but have the option to early adopt as of January 1, 2017. We plan to adopt the provision of ASU 2016-16 on January 1, 2018. The impact of adopting ASU 2016-16, if any, will be recognized through a cumulative adjustment to retained earnings as of the date of adoption.

Financial Instruments

On June 16, 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, "Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments" ("ASU 2016-13"). The primary impact of ASU 2016-13 for us is a change in the model for the recognition of credit losses related to our financial instruments from an incurred loss model, which recognized credit losses only if it was probable that a loss had been incurred, to an expected loss model, which requires our management team to estimate the total credit losses expected on the portfolio of financial instruments. We are currently reviewing the requirements of the standard and evaluating the impact on our consolidated financial statements.

We are required to adopt the provisions of ASU 2016-13 effective January 1, 2020, but could elect to early adopt the provisions as of January 1, 2019. We expect to recognize the impacts of adopting ASU 2016-13 through a cumulative adjustment to retained earnings as of the date of adoption. As of the date of this report, we have not yet determined the date we will adopt ASU 2016-13.

Leases

On February 25, 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, “Leases” (“ASU 2016-02”). The core principle of ASU 2016-02 will require lessees to present right-of-use assets and lease liabilities on their balance sheets for operating leases, which are currently not reflected on their balance sheets.

ASU 2016-02 is effective for annual and interim periods beginning January 1, 2019. Early adoption of ASU 2016-02 is permitted. Upon adoption of ASU 2016-02, we are required to recognize and measure leases at the beginning of the earliest period presented in our consolidated financial statements using a modified retrospective approach. The modified retrospective approach includes a number of optional practical expedients that we may elect to apply. We will implement this new standard on its effective date, but we have not yet decided which practical expedient options we will elect.

We are currently evaluating our existing lease accounting systems to determine whether our current systems will support the new accounting requirements or if upgrades or new systems will be required, and we are in the process of developing an implementation plan. We are also currently evaluating and assessing the impact ASU 2016-02 will have on us and our consolidated financial statements. As of the date of this report, we cannot provide any estimate of the impact of adopting ASU 2016-02.

Revenue Recognition

On May 28, 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” (“ASU 2014-09”). ASU 2014-09 replaces virtually all existing GAAP on revenue recognition and replaces them with a principles-based approach for determining revenue recognition using a new five step model. The core principle of ASU 2014-09 is that an entity should recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. ASU 2014-09 also includes new accounting principles related to the deferral and amortization of contract acquisition and fulfillment costs. We currently do not defer any contract acquisition costs, but we expect we will defer certain contract acquisition costs in the future, which could have the impact of lowering our operating expenses. We currently defer contract fulfillment costs only to the extent of any deferred revenue. Under ASU 2014-09, in certain transactions our deferred contract fulfillment costs could exceed our deferred revenues, which could result in an increase in deferred costs and could also have the impact of lowering our operating expenses.

On July 9, 2015, the FASB approved the deferral of the effective date of ASU 2014-09 by one year until January 1, 2018, which is the date we plan to adopt this standard. ASU 2014-09 may be adopted by applying the provisions of this standard on a retrospective basis to the periods included in the financial statements or on a modified retrospective basis, which would result in the recognition of a cumulative effect of adopting ASU 2014-09 in the first quarter of 2018. We have completed our initial assessment of our business and systems requirements, and we are currently developing and implementing a new revenue recognition system to comply with the requirements of ASU 2014-09. Based on this initial assessment, we currently plan to adopt the new revenue recognition standard under the modified retrospective transition method. Until we are further along in implementing our new revenue recognition system, we do not anticipate being able to provide reasonably accurate estimates of the impact of ASU 2014-09 on the timing of our revenue recognition.