Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Property, Plant and Equipment

Property, Plant and Equipment

Net property, plant and equipment is composed of the following:

	Depreciable Lives	As of December 31,
		2023		2022(5)
		(Dollars in millions)
Land	N/A	$	646	651
Fiber, conduit and other outside plant (1)	15-45 years	15,217		14,451
Central office and other network electronics(2)	3-10 years	15,741		15,077
Support assets(3)	3-30 years	6,714		6,863
Construction in progress(4)	N/A	2,758		2,010
Gross property, plant and equipment		41,076		39,052
Accumulated depreciation		(21,318)		(19,886)
Net property, plant and equipment		$	19,758	19,166

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(1)Fiber, conduit and other outside plant consists of fiber and metallic cable, conduit, poles and other supporting structures.

(2)Central office and other network electronics consists of circuit and packet switches, routers, transmission electronics and electronics providing service to customers.

(3)Support assets consist of buildings, data centers, computers and other administrative and support equipment.

(4)Construction in progress includes inventory held for construction and property of the aforementioned categories that has not been placed in service as it is still under construction.

(5)At December 31, 2022, we had $1.9 billion of certain property, plant and equipment, net related to our EMEA business which was classified as held for sale at this date and which was sold on November 1, 2023. See Note 2—Divestitures of the Latin American, ILEC and EMEA Businesses for more information.

We recorded depreciation expense of $1.9 billion, $2.1 billion and $2.7 billion for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Asset Retirement Obligations

As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, our asset retirement obligations balance was primarily related to estimated future costs of removing equipment from leased properties and estimated future costs of properly disposing of asbestos and other hazardous materials upon remodeling or demolishing buildings. Asset retirement obligations are included in other long-term liabilities on our consolidated balance sheets.

Our fair value estimates were determined using the discounted cash flow method.

The following table provides asset retirement obligation activity:

	Years Ended December 31,
	2023		2022
	(Dollars in millions)
Balance at beginning of year	$	156	182
Accretion expense	6		10
Liabilities settled	(9)		(10)
Change in estimate	4		4
Classified as held for sale(1)	—		(30)
Balance at end of year	$	157	156

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(1)Represents the amounts classified as held for sale related to our EMEA business. See Note 2—Divestitures of the Latin American, ILEC and EMEA Businesses.

The changes in estimate referred to in the table above were offset against gross property, plant and equipment.