Property, Plant and Equipment (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Schedule of net 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.

Schedule of changes to asset retirement obligations

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.