Long-Term Debt (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Long-Term Debt [Abstract]

Long-Term Debt

The activity in our long-term debt from December 31, 2011 to March 31, 2012 is summarized as follows:

				Three months ended
				March 31, 2012								Interest
												Rate* at
	December 31,						New		March 31,			March 31,
($ in thousands)	2011			Payments			Borrowings		2012			2012
Rural Utilities Service
Loan Contracts	$	10,197		$	(127	)	$	-	$	10,070			6.15	%
Senior Unsecured Debt		8,325,774			(14,375	)		-		8,311,399			7.92	%
Industrial Development
Revenue Bonds		13,550			-			-		13,550			6.33	%
TOTAL LONG-TERM DEBT	$	8,349,521		$	(14,502	)	$	-	$	8,335,019			7.92	%
Less: Debt Discount		(49,664	)							(45,881	)
Less: Current Portion		(94,016	)							(674,746	)
	$	8,205,841							$	7,614,392

* Interest rate includes amortization of debt issuance costs and debt premiums or discounts.  The interest rates at March 31, 2012 represent a weighted average of multiple issuances.

Senior Unsecured Debt

Additional information regarding our Senior Unsecured Debt is as follows:

	March 31, 2012			December 31, 2011
		Principal	Interest		Principal	Interest
($ in thousands)		Outstanding	Rate		Outstanding	Rate
Senior Notes:
Due 1/15/2013	$	580,724	6.250%	$	580,724	6.250%
Due 5/1/2014		600,000	8.250%		600,000	8.250%
Due 3/15/2015		300,000	6.625%		300,000	6.625%
Due 4/15/2015		500,000	7.875%		500,000	7.875%
Due 10/14/2016*		560,625	3.125% (Variable)		575,000	3.175% (Variable)
Due 4/15/2017		1,100,000	8.250%		1,100,000	8.250%
Due 10/1/2018		600,000	8.125%		600,000	8.125%
Due 3/15/2019		434,000	7.125%		434,000	7.125%
Due 4/15/2020		1,100,000	8.500%		1,100,000	8.500%
Due 4/15/2022		500,000	8.750%		500,000	8.750%
Due 1/15/2027		345,858	7.875%		345,858	7.875%
Due 2/15/2028		200,000	6.730%		200,000	6.730%
Due 10/15/2029		50,000	8.400%		50,000	8.400%
Due 8/15/2031		945,325	9.000%		945,325	9.000%
		7,816,532			7,830,907
Debentures:
Due 11/1/2025		138,000	7.000%		138,000	7.000%
Due 8/15/2026		1,739	6.800%		1,739	6.800%
Due 10/1/2034		628	7.680%		628	7.680%
Due 7/1/2035		125,000	7.450%		125,000	7.450%
Due 10/1/2046		193,500	7.050%		193,500	7.050%
		458,867			458,867
Subsidiary Senior
Notes due 12/1/2012		36,000	8.050%		36,000	8.050%
Total	$	8,311,399	7.92%	$	8,325,774	7.93%

Debt maturities by year

Our principal payments for the next five years are as follows as of March 31, 2012:

	Principal
($ in thousands)	Payments
2012 (remaining nine months)	$	79,514
2013	$	638,767
2014	$	658,017
2015	$	858,049
2016	$	345,466
2017	$	1,100,501