Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

(5)	Property, Plant and Equipment:

The components of property, plant and equipment at December 31, 2011 and 2010 are as follows:

	Estimated
($ in thousands)	Useful Lives		2011			2010

Land		N/A	$	128,855		$	133,366
Buildings and leasehold improvements	41 years			1,050,555			1,131,787
General support	5 to 17 years			914,777			604,524
Central office/electronic circuit equipment	5 to 11 years			4,582,296			4,319,795
Poles	49 years			471,561			436,126
Cable and wire	15 to 30 years			5,727,310			5,447,566
Conduit	60 years			342,868			344,159
Other	20 to 30 years			35,534			29,184
Construction work in progress				384,380			348,773
Property, plant and equipment				13,638,136			12,795,280
Less: Accumulated depreciation				(6,090,613	)		(5,204,666	)
Property, plant and equipment, net			$	7,547,523		$	7,590,614

Depreciation expense is principally based on the composite group method. Depreciation expense was $881.5 million, $599.7 million and $362.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively. As a result of an independent study of the estimated remaining useful lives of our Frontier legacy plant assets, we adopted new estimated remaining useful lives for certain plant assets as of October 1, 2010. In addition, we commissioned an independent study to determine the estimated remaining useful lives of plant assets for our Acquired Business. These new lives were adopted effective July 1, 2010. The latest study was completed in the fourth quarter of 2011 and after review and analysis of the results, we adopted new estimated remaining useful lives for certain plant assets as of October 1, 2011.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for long-lived, physical assets that are used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services and not intended for resale. Examples include land, buildings, machinery and equipment, and other types of furniture and equipment including, but not limited to, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment and software. This disclosure may include property plant and equipment accounting policies and methodology, a schedule of property, plant and equipment gross, additions, deletions, transfers and other changes, depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, net, accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization expense and useful lives, income statement disclosures, assets held for sale and public utility disclosures.

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