Leases

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2025

Note 15 – Leases

Lessee

We are a lessee for non-cancelable operating and financing leases for cell sites, switch sites, retail stores, network equipment and office facilities with contractual terms that generally extend through 2040. The majority of cell site leases have a non-cancelable term of five to 15 years with several renewal options that can extend the lease term for five to 50 years. In addition, we have financing leases for network equipment that generally have a non-cancelable lease term of three to five years. The financing leases do not have renewal options and contain a bargain purchase option at the end of the lease.

The components of lease expense were as follows:


	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
(in millions)	2025		2024		2025		2024
Operating lease expense	$	1,263	$	1,203	$	3,636	$	3,580
Financing lease expense:
Amortization of right-of-use assets	203		198		596		588
Interest on lease liabilities	31		33		96		83
Total financing lease expense	234		231		692		671
Variable lease expense	77		67		169		215
Total lease expense	$	1,574	$	1,501	$	4,497	$	4,466

As of September 30, 2025, the weighted-average remaining lease term and discount rate for operating leases were 8 years and 4.5%, respectively.

Maturities of lease liabilities as of September 30, 2025, were as follows:


(in millions)	Operating Leases		Finance Leases
Twelve Months Ending September 30,
2026	$	4,813	$	1,223
2027	4,759		816
2028	4,393		370
2029	4,072		26
2030	3,731		4
Thereafter	14,703		8
Total lease payments	36,471		2,447
Less: imputed interest	(6,142)		(104)
Total	$	30,329	$	2,343

Interest payments for financing leases were $31 million and $30 million for the three months ended September 30, 2025 and 2024, respectively, and $96 million and $79 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2025 and 2024, respectively.

As of September 30, 2025, we have additional operating leases for commercial properties that have not yet commenced with future lease payments of approximately $56 million.

As of September 30, 2025, we were contingently liable for future ground lease payments related to certain tower obligations. These contingent obligations are not included in the above table as the amounts owed are contractually owed by CCI based on the subleasing arrangement. See Note 10 – Tower Obligations for further information.

On the UScellular Acquisition Date, we entered into a master license agreement to lease space on at least 2,100 towers being retained by UScellular and extended our tenancy term on approximately 600 additional towers where we are already leasing space from UScellular for 15 years post-closing. In addition, through the master license agreement, we leased space on approximately 1,800 additional UScellular towers on an interim basis for up to 30 months after the UScellular Acquisition Date. As a result of entering into the master license agreement, we recorded right-of use assets and lease liabilities of $1.0 billion each on the UScellular Acquisition Date, with a corresponding increase to both deferred tax liabilities and assets of $261 million.

Leases