Commitments and Contingencies | Note 11 – Commitments and Contingencies Purchase Commitments We have commitments for non-dedicated transportation lines with varying expiration terms that generally extend through 2038. In addition, we have commitments to purchase wireless devices, network services, equipment, software, marketing sponsorship agreements and other items in the ordinary course of business, with various terms through 2043. Our purchase commitments are approximately $4.4 billion for the twelve-month period ending March 31, 2023, $5.5 billion in total for each of the twelve-month periods ending March 31, 2024 and 2025, $2.4 billion in total for each of the twelve-month periods ending March 31, 2026 and 2027 and $3.1 billion in total thereafter. These amounts are not reflective of our entire anticipated purchases under the related agreements but are determined based on the non-cancelable quantities or termination amounts to which we are contractually obligated. Spectrum Leases We lease spectrum from various parties. These leases include service obligations to the lessors. Certain spectrum leases provide for minimum lease payments, additional charges, renewal options and escalation clauses. Leased spectrum agreements have varying expiration terms that generally extend through 2050. We expect that all renewal periods in our spectrum leases will be exercised by us. Certain spectrum leases also include purchase options and right-of-first refusal clauses in which we are provided the opportunity to exercise our purchase option if the lessor receives a purchase offer from a third party. The purchase of the leased spectrum is at our option and therefore the option price is not included in the commitments below. Our spectrum lease and service credit commitments, including renewal periods, are approximately $345 million for the twelve-month period ending March 31, 2023, $627 million in total for each of the twelve-month periods ending March 31, 2024 and 2025, $623 million in total for each of the twelve-month periods ending March 31, 2026 and 2027 and $4.9 billion in total thereafter. Contingencies and Litigation Litigation and Regulatory Matters We are involved in various lawsuits and disputes, claims, government agency investigations and enforcement actions, and other proceedings (“Litigation and Regulatory Matters”) that arise in the ordinary course of business, which include claims of patent infringement (most of which are asserted by non-practicing entities primarily seeking monetary damages), class actions, and proceedings to enforce FCC or other government agency rules and regulations. Those Litigation and Regulatory Matters are at various stages, and some of them may proceed to trial, arbitration, hearing, or other adjudication that could result in fines, penalties, or awards of monetary or injunctive relief in the coming 12 months if they are not otherwise resolved. We have established an accrual with respect to certain of these matters, where appropriate. The accruals are reflected in the condensed consolidated financial statements, but they are not considered to be, individually or in the aggregate, material. An accrual is established when we believe it is both probable that a loss has been incurred and an amount can be reasonably estimated. For other matters, where we have not determined that a loss is probable or because the amount of loss cannot be reasonably estimated, we have not recorded an accrual due to various factors typical in contested proceedings, including, but not limited to, uncertainty concerning legal theories and their resolution by courts or regulators, uncertain damage theories and demands, and a less than fully developed factual record. For Litigation and Regulatory Matters that may result in a contingent gain, we recognize such gains in the condensed consolidated financial statements when the gain is realized or realizable. We recognize legal costs expected to be incurred in connection with Litigation and Regulatory Matters as they are incurred. Except as otherwise specified below, we do not expect that the ultimate resolution of these Litigation and Regulatory Matters, individually or in the aggregate, will have a material adverse effect on our financial position, but we note that an unfavorable outcome of some or all of the specific matters identified below could have a material adverse impact on results of operations or cash flows for a particular period. This assessment is based on our current understanding of relevant facts and circumstances. As such, our view of these matters is subject to inherent uncertainties and may change in the future. On February 28, 2020, we received a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture and Admonishment from the FCC, which proposed a penalty against us for allegedly violating section 222 of the Communications Act and the FCC’s regulations governing the privacy of customer information. In the first quarter of 2020, we recorded an accrual for an estimated payment amount. We maintained the accrual as of March 31, 2022, and that accrual was included in Accounts payable and accrued liabilities on our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. On April 1, 2020, in connection with the closing of the Merger, we assumed the contingencies and litigation matters of Sprint. Those matters include a wide variety of disputes, claims, government agency investigations and enforcement actions, and other proceedings. These matters include, among other things, certain ongoing FCC and state government agency investigations into Sprint’s Lifeline program. In September 2019, Sprint notified the FCC that it had claimed monthly subsidies for serving subscribers even though these subscribers may not have met usage requirements under Sprint's usage policy for the Lifeline program, due to an inadvertent coding issue in the system used to identify qualifying subscriber usage that occurred in July 2017 while the system was being updated. Sprint has made a number of payments to reimburse the federal government and certain states for excess subsidy payments. We note that pursuant to Amendment No. 2, dated as of February 20, 2020, to the Business Combination Agreement, dated as of April 29, 2018, by and among the Company, Sprint and the other parties named therein (as amended, the “Business Combination Agreement”), SoftBank agreed to indemnify us against certain specified matters and losses, including those relating to the Lifeline matters described above. Resolution of these matters could require making additional reimbursements and paying additional fines and penalties, which we do not expect to have a significant impact on our financial results. We expect that any additional liabilities related to these indemnified matters would be indemnified and reimbursed by SoftBank. On June 1, 2021, a putative shareholder class action and derivative lawsuit was filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery, Dinkevich v. Deutsche Telekom AG, et al. , Case No. C.A. No. 2021-0479, against DT, SoftBank and certain of our current and former officers and directors, asserting breach of fiduciary duty claims relating to the repricing amendment to the Business Combination Agreement, and to SoftBank’s monetization of its T-Mobile shares. We are also named as a nominal defendant in the case. We are unable to predict the potential outcome of these claims. We intend to vigorously defend this lawsuit. In October 2020, we notified Mobile Virtual Network Operators (“MVNOs”) using the legacy Sprint CDMA network that we planned to sunset that network on December 31, 2021. In response to that notice, DISH Network Corporation (“DISH”), which has Boost Mobile customers who use the legacy Sprint CDMA network, made several efforts to prevent us from sunsetting the CDMA network until mid-2023, including by urging the U.S. Department of Justice to move for a finding of contempt under the April 1, 2020 Final Judgment entered by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and by pursuing a Petition for Modification and related proceedings pursuant to the California Public Utilities Commission’s (the “CPUC”) April 2020 decision concerning the Merger. We disagree with the merits of DISH’s positions and have opposed them. On October 22, 2021, we announced that we would delay the full decommissioning of the legacy Sprint CDMA network for three months, until March 31, 2022, to, among other things, help ensure that DISH and other MVNOs fulfill their contractual responsibilities and transition customers off the legacy Sprint CDMA network before the decommissioning. In March 2022, the CPUC denied DISH’s Petition for Modification. We cannot predict the outcome of the other proceedings described above, but we intend to vigorously oppose any efforts to further delay the sunset of the legacy Sprint CDMA network. The orderly decommissioning of the legacy Sprint CDMA network began as planned on March 31, 2022, and is expected to be completed during the second fiscal quarter of 2022, and we will continue to help ensure that DISH and other MVNOs fulfill their contractual responsibilities and transition customers off the legacy Sprint CDMA network before the decommissioning. On August 12, 2021, we became aware of a potential cybersecurity issue involving unauthorized access to T-Mobile’s systems (the “August 2021 cyberattack”). We immediately began an investigation and engaged cybersecurity experts to assist with the assessment of the incident and to help determine what data was impacted. Our investigation uncovered that the perpetrator had illegally gained access to certain areas of our systems on or about March 18, 2021, but only gained access to and took data of current, former, and prospective customers beginning on or about August 3, 2021. With the assistance of our outside cybersecurity experts, we located and closed the unauthorized access to our systems and identified current, former and prospective customers whose information was impacted and notified them, consistent with state and federal requirements. We also undertook a number of other measures to demonstrate our continued support and commitment to data privacy and protection. We also coordinated with law enforcement. Our forensic investigation is complete, and we believe we have a full view of the data compromised. As a result of the August 2021 cyberattack, we have become subject to numerous lawsuits, including mass arbitration claims and multiple class action lawsuits, that have been filed in numerous jurisdictions seeking unspecified monetary damages, costs and attorneys’ fees arising out of the August 2021 cyberattack. In December 2021, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated the federal class action lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. In addition, in November 2021, a purported Company shareholder filed a derivative action in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, Litwin v. Sievert et al., No. 2:21-cv-01599, against our current directors, alleging several claims concerning the Company’s cybersecurity practices. In April 2022, the Litwin case was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice. We are unable to predict at this time the potential outcome of any of the other claims described above or whether we may be subject to further private litigation. We intend to vigorously defend all of these lawsuits. In addition, the Company has received inquiries from various government agencies, law enforcement and other governmental authorities related to the August 2021 cyberattack, which could result in fines or penalties. We are responding to these inquiries and cooperating fully with regulators. However, we cannot predict the timing or outcome of any of these inquiries, or whether we may be subject to further regulatory inquiries. In light of the inherent uncertainties involved in such matters and based on the information currently available to us, as of the date of this Quarterly Report, we have not recorded any accruals for losses related to the above proceedings and inquiries, as any such amounts (or ranges of amounts) are not probable or estimable at this time. We believe it is reasonably possible that we could incur losses associated with these proceedings and inquiries, and the Company will continue to evaluate information as it becomes known and will record an estimate for losses at the time or times when it is both probable that a loss has been incurred and the amount of the loss is reasonably estimable. Ongoing legal and other costs related to these proceedings and inquiries, as well as any potential future proceedings and inquiries, may be substantial, and losses associated with any adverse judgments, settlements, penalties or other resolutions of such proceedings and inquiries could be material to our business, reputation, financial condition, cash flows and operating results. In March 2022, we received $220 million in settlement of certain patent litigation. We recognized the settlement, net of legal fees, as a reduction to Selling, general and administrative expenses on our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income. |