Property, Plant And Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Property, Plant And Equipment [Abstract]

Property, Plant And Equipment

(6) Property, Plant and Equipment:

Property, plant and equipment, net at December 31, 2019 and 2018 are as follows:

($ in millions)	Estimated Useful Lives		2019			2018
Land		N/A	$	217		$	230
Buildings and leasehold improvements	40 years			2,171			2,302
General support	5 to 15 years			1,624			1,616
Central office/electronic circuit equipment	5 to 8 years			7,968			8,447
Poles	30 years			1,274			1,211
Cable, fiber and wire	15 to 25 years			11,312			11,743
Conduit	50 years			1,608			1,672
Construction work in progress				378			436
Property, plant and equipment				26,552			27,657
Less: Accumulated depreciation				(13,589	)		(13,470	)
Property, plant and equipment, net			$	12,963		$	14,187

As of December 31, 2019, $1,049 million of fixed assets were reclassified to assets held for sale in relation to the planned sale of the Northwest Operations (see Note 7).

Property, plant, and equipment includes approximately $167 million, $152 million, and $171 million of fixed assets recognized under capital leases as of December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

In 2017 and 2018, we sold certain properties subject to leaseback, generating $106 million in net proceeds. In connection with the adoption of ASC 842, the $15 million ($11 million net of tax) unamortized deferred gains resulting from these transactions were recognized directly to opening accumulated deficit as of January 1, 2019.

In January 2019, we closed the sale of certain wireless towers for approximately $76 million in cash. The aggregate carrying value of the towers was approximately $1 million, resulting in a gain on the sale of $75 million which, given our composite group method of accounting for depreciation, was recognized against “Accumulated Depreciation” in our consolidated balance sheet during 2019.

Depreciation expense is principally based on the composite group method. Depreciation expense was as follows:

	For the year ended December 31,
($ in millions)	2019		2018		2017
Depreciation expense	$	1,335	$	1,385	$	1,485

We adopted revised estimated remaining useful lives for certain plant assets as of October 1, 2019, as a result of an annual independent study of the estimated remaining useful lives of our plant assets, with an insignificant impact to depreciation expense.