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Document and Entity Information - USD ($) $ in Billions	12 Months Ended
Document and Entity Information - USD ($) $ in Billions	Dec. 31, 2016	Mar. 10, 2017	Jun. 30, 2016
Document and Entity Information [Abstract]
Entity Registrant Name	SHENANDOAH TELECOMMUNICATIONS CO/VA/
Entity Central Index Key	0000354963
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Filer Category	Large Accelerated Filer
Document Type	10-K
Document Period End Date	Dec. 31, 2016
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2016
Document Fiscal Period Focus	FY
Amendment Flag	false
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		49,097,761
Entity Well-known Seasoned Issuer	No
Entity Voluntary Filers	No
Entity Current Reporting Status	Yes
Entity Public Float			$ 1.8

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Current Assets
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 36,193	$ 76,812
Accounts receivable, net	69,789	29,778
Income taxes receivable	0	7,694
Inventory, net	39,043	4,183
Prepaid expenses and other	16,440	8,573
Deferred income taxes	0	907
Total current assets	161,465	127,947
Investments, including $2,907 and $2,654 carried at fair value	10,276	10,679
Property, plant and equipment, net	698,122	410,018
Other Assets
Intangible assets, net	454,532	66,993
Goodwill	145,256	10
Deferred charges and other assets, net	14,756	11,504
Total assets	1,484,407	627,151
Current Liabilities
Current maturities of long-term debt, net of unamortized loan fees	32,041	22,492
Accounts payable	72,810	13,009
Advanced billings and customer deposits	20,427	11,674
Accrued compensation	9,465	5,915
Accrued Income Taxes, Current	435	0
Accrued liabilities and other	29,085	7,639
Total current liabilities	164,263	60,729
Long-term debt, less current maturities, net of unamortized loan fees	797,224	177,169
Other Long-Term Liabilities
Deferred income taxes	151,837	74,868
Deferred lease payable	18,042	8,142
Asset retirement obligations	15,666	7,266
Retirement plan obligations	17,738	2,654
Other liabilities	23,743	6,385
Total other liabilities	227,026	99,315
Commitments and Contingencies
Shareholders’ Equity
Common stock, no par value, authorized 96,000 shares; issued and outstanding 48,935 shares in 2016 and 48,475 shares in 2015	45,482	32,776
Retained earnings	243,624	256,747
Accumulated other comprehensive income, net of taxes	6,788	415
Total shareholders’ equity	295,894	289,938
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	$ 1,484,407	$ 627,151

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Parenthetical) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Current Assets
Investments at fair value	$ 2,907	$ 2,654
Shareholders' Equity
Common stock, par value (in dollars per share)	$ 0	$ 0
Common stock, shares authorized (in shares)	96,000,000	96,000,000
Common stock, shares issued (in shares)	48,935,000	48,475,000
Common stock, shares outstanding (in shares)	48,935,000	48,475,000

- Definition

Fair value portion of investment securities, including, but not limited to, marketable securities, derivative financial instruments, and investments accounted for under the equity method.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02(12))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Glossary Trading Securities
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6526789

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 210
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.9-03(5))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6876686&loc=d3e534808-122878

Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 210
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.9-03(6))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6876686&loc=d3e534808-122878

Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 35
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=27723805&loc=d3e24584-111560

Reference 6: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02(2))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

Reference 7: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 25
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=65884222&loc=d3e22054-111558

Reference 8: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 944
-SubTopic 210
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.7-03(a)(1))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6879938&loc=d3e572229-122910

Reference 9: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Glossary Available-for-Sale Securities
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6505594

+ Details

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME - USD ($) shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Income Statement [Abstract]
Operating revenues	$ 535,288	$ 342,485	$ 326,946
Operating expenses
Cost of goods and services, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below	193,520	121,330	129,743
Selling, general and administrative, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown below	133,325	72,821	69,370
Integration and acquisition expenses	42,232	3,546	0
Depreciation and amortization	143,685	70,702	65,890
Total operating expenses	512,762	268,399	265,003
Operating income	22,526	74,086	61,943
Other income (expense)
Interest expense	(25,102)	(7,355)	(8,148)
Gain on investments, net	271	105	208
Non-operating income, net	4,250	1,754	2,031
Income before income taxes	1,945	68,590	56,034
Income tax expense	2,840	27,726	22,151
Net income (loss)	(895)	40,864	33,883
Other comprehensive income:
Unrealized gain (loss) on interest rate hedge, net of tax	6,373	(707)	(1,472)
Comprehensive income	$ 5,478	$ 40,157	$ 32,411
Earnings (loss) per share:
Basic (in dollars per share)	$ (0.02)	$ 0.84	$ 0.70
Diluted (in dollars per share)	$ (0.02)	$ 0.83	$ 0.70
Weighted average shares outstanding, basic (in shares)	48,807	48,388	48,198
Weighted average shares outstanding, diluted (in shares)	48,807	49,024	48,720

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY - USD ($) shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	Total	Common Stock [Member]	Retained Earnings [Member]	Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) [Member]
Balance at Dec. 31, 2013	$ 234,315	$ 26,759	$ 204,962	$ 2,594
Balance (in shares) at Dec. 31, 2013		48,080
Increase (Decrease) in Stockholders' Equity [Roll Forward]
Net income (loss)	33,883		33,883
Other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax	(1,472)			(1,472)
Dividends declared	(11,333)		(11,333)
Dividends reinvested in common stock	572	$ 572
Dividends reinvested in common stock (in shares)		39
Stock based compensation	2,624	$ 2,624
Common stock issued through exercise of incentive stock options	1,141	$ 1,141
Common stock issued through exercise of incentive stock options (in shares)		102
Common stock issued for share awards (in shares)		162
Common stock issued	6	$ 6
Common stock issued (in shares)		2
Common stock repurchased	(1,785)	$ (1,785)
Common stock repurchased (in shares)		(120)
Net excess tax benefit from stock options exercised	395	$ 395
Balance at Dec. 31, 2014	258,346	$ 29,712	227,512	1,122
Balance (in shares) at Dec. 31, 2014		48,265
Increase (Decrease) in Stockholders' Equity [Roll Forward]
Net income (loss)	40,864		40,864
Other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax	(707)			(707)
Dividends declared	(11,629)		(11,629)
Dividends reinvested in common stock	544	$ 544
Dividends reinvested in common stock (in shares)		22
Stock based compensation	2,719	$ 2,719
Common stock issued through exercise of incentive stock options	996	$ 996
Common stock issued through exercise of incentive stock options (in shares)		87
Common stock issued for share awards (in shares)		212
Common stock issued	11	$ 11
Common stock issued (in shares)		1
Common stock repurchased	(1,885)	$ (1,885)
Common stock repurchased (in shares)		(111)
Net excess tax benefit from stock options exercised	679	$ 679
Balance at Dec. 31, 2015	$ 289,938	$ 32,776	256,747	415
Balance (in shares) at Dec. 31, 2015	48,475	48,475
Increase (Decrease) in Stockholders' Equity [Roll Forward]
Net income (loss)	$ (895)		(895)
Other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax	6,373			6,373
Dividends declared	(12,228)		(12,228)
Dividends reinvested in common stock	524	$ 524
Dividends reinvested in common stock (in shares)		19
Stock based compensation	3,506	$ 3,506
Common stock issued through exercise of incentive stock options	3,359	$ 3,359
Common stock issued through exercise of incentive stock options (in shares)		371
Common stock issued for share awards (in shares)		190
Common stock issued	14	$ 14
Common stock issued (in shares)		2
Common stock issued to acquire non-controlling interests of nTelos	10,400	$ 10,400
Common stock issued to acquire a non-controlling interests of nTelos (in shares)		76
Common stock repurchased	(5,097)	$ (5,097)
Common stock repurchased (in shares)		(198)
Balance at Dec. 31, 2016	$ 295,894	$ 45,482	$ 243,624	$ 6,788
Balance (in shares) at Dec. 31, 2016	48,935	48,935

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY (Parenthetical) - $ / shares	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Statement of Stockholders' Equity [Abstract]
Dividends declared per share (in dollars per share)	$ 0.25	$ 0.24	$ 0.235

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Cash Flows from Operating Activities
Net income (loss)	$ (895)	$ 40,864	$ 33,883
Adjustments to reconcile net income(loss) to net cash provided by operating activities:
Depreciation	123,995	69,287	63,324
Amortization reflected as operating expense	19,690	1,415	2,566
Amortization reflected as contra revenue	14,030	0	0
Amortization reflected as rent expense	728	0	0
Provision for bad debt	2,456	1,640	1,678
Straight line adjustment to management fee revenue	11,974	0	0
Stock based compensation expense	3,021	2,333	2,624
Excess tax benefits on stock option exercises	0	(679)	(395)
Deferred income taxes	(52,875)	(451)	2,975
Net loss (gain) on disposal of equipment	(23)	235	1,975
Unrealized (gains) loss on investments	(143)	141	51
Net gains from patronage and equity investments	(795)	(805)	(852)
Amortization of long term debt issuance costs	3,914	567	605
Net benefit from retirement plans	(4,396)	0	0
Other	29	113	1,515
(Increase) decrease in:
Accounts receivable	14,581	(1,047)	(6,225)
Inventory, net	(30,288)	492	1,921
Income taxes receivable	7,694	7,058	1,824
Other assets	5,273	(6,368)	1,055
Increase (decrease) in:
Accounts payable	42,496	2,753	5,040
Income taxes payable	435	0	0
Deferred lease payable	4,273	962	1,024
Other deferrals and accruals	(3,648)	811	405
Net cash provided by operating activities	161,526	119,321	114,993
Cash Flows From Investing Activities
Acquisition of property, plant and equipment	(173,231)	(69,679)	(68,232)
Proceeds from sale of assets	5,510	363	551
Cash disbursed for acquisition, net of cash acquired	(657,354)	0	0
Release of restricted cash	2,167	0	0
Cash distributions from investments	2,895	54	43
Net cash used in investing activities	(820,013)	(69,262)	(67,638)
Cash Flows From Financing Activities
Principal payments on long-term debt	(213,793)	(23,000)	(5,750)
Amounts borrowed under debt agreements	860,000	0	0
Cash paid for debt issuance costs	(14,910)	(7,880)	0
Dividends paid, net of dividends reinvested	(11,705)	(11,085)	(10,761)
Excess tax benefits on stock option exercises	0	679	395
Repurchases of common stock	(5,097)	(1,885)	(1,785)
Proceeds from issuances of common stock	3,373	1,007	1,147
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities	617,868	(42,164)	(16,754)
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents	(40,619)	7,895	30,601
Cash and cash equivalents:
Beginning	76,812	68,917	38,316
Ending	36,193	76,812	68,917
Cash payments for:
Interest, net of capitalized interest of $1,374 in 2016, $436 in 2015, and $373 in 2014	21,187	6,784	7,548
Income taxes paid, net	$ 44,983	$ 21,119	$ 17,233

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Parenthetical) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Supplemental Disclosures of Cash Flow Information Cash payments for:
Capitalized interest	$ 1,374	$ 436	$ 373
Other cash flow information:
Capital expenditures incurred	14,386	5,597	6,492
Common stock issued to acquire non-controlling interests of nTelos	10,400
Unamortized loan allocation to long-term debt current maturities	5,200
Increase in fair value of interest rate swaps	10,525
Increase in deferred tax liabilities	4,162
Increase in accumulated other comprehensive income	$ 6,373	$ (707)	$ (1,472)

Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Description of business: Shenandoah Telecommunications Company and its subsidiaries (collectively, the “Company”) provide wireless personal communications service (“PCS”) under the Sprint brand, and telephone service, cable television, unregulated communications equipment sales and services, and internet access under the Shentel brand. In addition, the Company leases towers and operates and maintains an interstate fiber optic network. Pursuant to a management agreement with Sprint and its related parties (collectively, “Sprint”), the Company has been the exclusive Sprint PCS Affiliate providing wireless mobility communications network products and services on the 800 MHz, 1900 MHz and 2.5 GHz spectrum ranges in the geographic area extending from Altoona, Harrisburg and York, Pennsylvania, south through Western Maryland and the panhandle of West Virginia to Harrisonburg, Virginia.

With the recent acquisition of nTelos (see Note 16), the Company's wireless service has expanded to include south-central and western Virginia, West Virginia, and small portions of Kentucky and Ohio. This segment also owns cell site towers built on leased land, and leases space on these towers to both affiliates and non-affiliated service providers. The Company is licensed to use the Sprint brand name in this territory, and operates its network under the Sprint radio spectrum license. The Company's other operations are located in the four-state region surrounding the Northern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

A summary of the Company's significant accounting policies follows:

Principles of consolidation: The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of all wholly owned subsidiaries. All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The Company has no involvement with variable interest entities. The Company accounts for investments over which it has significant influence but not a controlling financial interest using the equity method of accounting.

Use of estimates: Management of the Company has made a number of estimates and assumptions related to the reporting of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. Management reviews its estimates, including those related to recoverability and useful lives of assets as well as liabilities for income taxes and pension benefits. Changes in facts and circumstances may result in revised estimates, and actual results could differ from those reported estimates.

Cash and cash equivalents: The Company considers all temporary cash investments purchased with a maturity of three months or less to be cash equivalents. Cash equivalents at December 31, 2015 included $40.1 million invested in institutional cash management funds. The Company places its temporary cash investments with high credit quality financial institutions. Generally, such investments are in excess of FDIC or SIPC insurance limits.

Accounts receivable: Accounts receivable are recorded at the invoiced amount and generally do not bear interest. The allowance for doubtful accounts is the Company’s best estimate of the amount of probable credit losses in the Company’s existing accounts receivable. The Company determines the allowance based on historical write-off experience and industry and local economic data. The Company reviews its allowance for doubtful accounts monthly. Past due balances meeting specific criteria are reviewed individually for collectability. All other balances are reviewed on a pooled basis. Account balances are charged off against the allowance after all means of collection have been exhausted and the potential for recovery is considered remote. Accounts receivable are concentrated among customers within the Company's geographic service area and large telecommunications companies. Changes in the allowance for doubtful accounts for trade accounts receivable for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014 are summarized below (in thousands):



	2016			2015			2014

Balance at beginning of year	$	418		$	762		$	924
Bad debt expense	2,456			1,640			1,678
Losses charged to allowance	(2,743		)	(2,586		)	(2,218		)
Recoveries added to allowance	628			602			378
Balance at end of year	$	759		$	418		$	762

Inventories: The Company's inventories consist primarily of items held for resale such as devices and accessories. The Company values its inventory at the lower of cost or market. Inventory cost is computed on an average cost basis. Market value is determined by reviewing current replacement cost, marketability and obsolescence.

Investments: The classifications of debt and equity securities are determined by management at the date individual investments are acquired. The appropriateness of such classification is periodically reassessed. The Company monitors the fair value of all investments, and based on factors such as market conditions, financial information and industry conditions, the Company will reflect impairments in values as is warranted. The classification of those securities and the related accounting policies are as follows:

Investments Carried at Fair Value: Investments in equity and bond mutual funds and investment trusts held within the Company’s rabbi trust, which is related to the Company’s unfunded Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan, are reported at fair value using net asset value per share. The Company has elected to recognize unrealized gains and losses on investments carried at fair value in earnings, pursuant to the fair value option in Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 820, Fair Value Measurement.

Investments Carried at Cost: Investments in common stock in which the Company does not have a significant ownership (less than 20%) and for which there is no ready market, are carried at cost. This category includes required investments to obtain services, primarily with CoBank. Information regarding investments carried at cost is reviewed for evidence of impairment in value. Impairments are charged to earnings and a new cost basis for the investment is established.

Equity Method Investments: Investments in partnerships and in unconsolidated corporations where the Company's ownership is 20% or more, but less than 50%, or where the Company otherwise has the ability to exercise significant influence, are reported under the equity method. Under this method, the Company's equity in earnings or losses of investees is reflected in earnings. Distributions received reduce the carrying value of these investments. The Company recognizes a loss when there is a decline in value of the investment which is other than a temporary decline.

Property, plant and equipment: Property, plant and equipment is stated at cost less accumulated depreciation and amortization. The Company capitalizes all costs associated with the purchase, deployment and installation of property, plant and equipment, including interest costs on major capital projects during the period of their construction. Expenditures, including those on leased assets, which extend the useful life or increase its utility, are capitalized. Maintenance expense is recognized when repairs are performed. Depreciation is calculated on the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the assets. Depreciation and amortization is not included in the income statement line items “Cost of goods and services” or “Selling, general and administrative.” Depreciable lives are assigned to assets based on their estimated useful lives. Leasehold improvements are depreciated over the lesser of their useful lives or respective lease terms. The Company takes technology changes into consideration as it assigns the estimated useful lives, and monitors the remaining useful lives of asset groups to reasonably match the remaining economic life with the useful life and makes adjustments when necessary.

Valuation of long-lived assets: Long‑lived assets, such as property, plant, and equipment, and purchased intangibles subject to amortization, are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. Recoverability of assets to be held and used is measured by a comparison of the carrying amount of an asset to estimated undiscounted future cash flows expected to be generated by the asset. If the carrying amount of an asset exceeds its estimated future cash flows, an impairment charge is recognized by the amount by which the carrying amount of the asset exceeds the fair value of the asset.

Fair value: Fair value is defined as the amount that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. Financial instruments presented on the consolidated balance sheets for which the carrying value approximates fair value include: cash and cash equivalents, receivables, investments carried at fair value, payables, accrued liabilities, interest rate swaps and variable-rate long-term debt.

The Company measures its interest rate swaps at fair value and recognizes such derivative instruments as either assets or liabilities on the Company’s consolidated balance sheet. Changes in the fair value of swaps are recognized in other comprehensive income, as the Company has designated these swaps as cash flow hedges for accounting purposes. The Company entered into these swaps to manage a portion of its exposure to interest rate movements by converting a portion of its variable rate long-term debt to fixed rate debt.

Asset retirement obligations: The Company records the fair value of an asset retirement obligation as a liability in the period in which it incurs a legal obligation associated with the retirement of tangible long-lived assets that results from acquisition, construction, development and/or normal use of the assets. The Company also records a corresponding asset, which is depreciated over the life of the tangible long-lived asset. Subsequent to the initial measurement of the asset retirement obligation, the obligation is adjusted at the end of each period to reflect the passage of time and changes in the estimated future cash flows underlying the obligation. The Company records the retirement obligation on towers owned and cell site improvements where there is a legal obligation to remove the tower or cell site improvements and restore the site to its original condition. The terms associated with its operating leases, and applicable zoning ordinances of certain jurisdictions, define the Company’s obligations which are estimated and vary based on the size of the towers. The Company’s cost to remove the tower or cell site improvements is amortized over the life of the tower or cell site assets.

During 2015, new information was received regarding the cost to remove tower site improvements. The Company recorded an adjustment to the wireless segment asset retirement obligation liabilities to reflect changes in the estimated future cash flows underlying the obligation to remove tower site improvements.

Changes in the liability for asset removal obligations for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014 are summarized below (in thousands):



	2016			2015			2014

Balance at beginning of year	$	7,266		$	6,928		$	6,485
Liabilities acquired in acquisition	14,056			—			—
Additional liabilities accrued	157			490			403
Changes to prior estimates	—			(467		)	—
Payments made	(609		)	(77		)	(334		)
Accretion expense	637			392			374
Balance at end of year	$	21,507		$	7,266		$	6,928

The short term portion of the asset retirement obligation of $5.8 million is included in accrued liabilities and other for the year ended December 31, 2016 on the Company's consolidated balance sheets. See note 10 for additional information.

Goodwill and intangible assets: In connection with the acquisition of a business, a portion of the purchase price may be allocated to identifiable intangible assets with indefinite lives, such as franchise rights, and goodwill, which is an asset representing the future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized. Goodwill is recorded in the segment that was affected by the acquisition.

Goodwill is not amortized but is tested for impairment on at least an annual basis. Impairment testing is required more often than annually if an event or circumstance indicates that impairment is more likely than not to have occurred. In conducting its annual impairment testing, the Company may first perform a qualitative assessment of whether it is more likely than not that a reporting unit’s fair value is less than its carrying amount. If not, no further goodwill impairment testing is required. If it is more likely than not that a reporting unit’s fair value is less than its carrying amount, or if the Company elects not to perform a qualitative assessment of a reporting unit, the Company then compares the fair value of the reporting unit to the related net book value. If the net book value of a reporting unit exceeds its fair value, an impairment loss is measured and recognized. The Company elected not to perform the qualitative assessment and performed a quantitative test comparing the fair value with the carrying amounts and concluded that no impairment existed as of October 1, 2016.

Intangible assets with indefinite lives, primarily cable franchise rights, are assessed annually, at November 1, for impairment and in interim periods if certain triggering events occur indicating that the carrying value may be impaired. The Company determined that no impairment of cable segment franchise rights was required for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014. The fair value of cable franchise rights, which is determined by a “greenfield” analysis (Level 3 fair value), was determined to exceed its $64.3 million carrying value by approximately $28.2 million at December 31, 2016, and exceeded its $64.1 carrying value by approximately $11.3 million at December 31, 2015.

Changes in the carrying amount of goodwill during the year ended December 31, 2016 are shown below (in thousands):



Goodwill as of December 31, 2015, Wireline segment	$	10
Goodwill recorded January 2016, Cable segment, Colane acquisition	104
Goodwill recorded May 2016, Wireless segment, nTelos acquisition	145,142
Goodwill as of December 31, 2016	$	145,256

Intangible assets consist of the following at December 31, 2016 and 2015 (in thousands):



	2016							2015
	Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization			Net		Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization			Net
Non-amortizing intangibles:
Cable franchise rights	$	64,334	$	—		$	64,334	$	64,059	$	—		$	64,059
Railroad crossing rights	97		—			97		39		—			39
	64,431		—			64,431		64,098		—			64,098

Finite-lived intangibles:
Affiliate contract expansion	284,102		(14,030		)	270,072		—		—			—
Acquired subscribers – wireless	120,855		(18,738		)	102,117		—		—			—
Favorable leases - wireless	16,950		(1,130		)	15,820		—		—			—
Acquired subscribers – cable	25,265		(24,631		)	634		25,326		(23,805		)	1,521
Other intangibles	2,212		(754		)	1,458		1,938		(564		)	1,374
Total finite-lived intangibles	449,384		(59,283		)	390,101		27,264		(24,369		)	2,895
Total intangible assets	$	513,815	$	(59,283	)	$	454,532	$	91,362	$	(24,369	)	$	66,993

For the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, amortization expense, including amortization recorded as a contra revenue and as rent expense, related to intangible assets was approximately $34.9 million, $1.4 million and $2.6 million, respectively. Unfavorable leases in the wireless segment are included in deferred lease payables and amortized to rent expense.

Aggregate amortization expense, including amortization recorded as a contra revenue, for intangible assets for the periods shown is expected to be as follows:



Year Ending December 31,	Total		Amount Reflected as Contra Revenue		Amount Reflected as Rent Expense		Amount Reflected as Amortization Expense
	(in thousands)
2017	$	46,807	$	21,045	$	1,695	$	24,067
2018	40,797		21,044		1,695		18,058
2019	36,561		21,045		1,695		13,821
2020	33,685		21,044		1,695		10,946
2021	30,923		21,045		1,695		8,183
thereafter	201,328		164,849		7,345		29,134
Total	$	390,101	$	270,072	$	15,820	$	104,209

Deferred charges and other assets: Deferred charges and other assets consist of derivatives used for hedging purposes and debt issuance costs related to available lines of credit and other unused funds, which are amortized on a straight-line method over the remaining draw period.

Retirement plans: The Company maintains a Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (“SERP”) for selected employees. This is an unfunded defined contribution plan. The Company created and funded a rabbi trust to hold assets equal to the liabilities under this plan. Participant balances and earnings thereon continue to be maintained for this plan, but no new participants or contributions have been added to the plan since 2010.

Through the Company’s acquisition of nTelos, the Company assumed nTelos’ non-contributory defined benefit pension plan (“Pension Plan”) covering all employees who met eligibility requirements and were employed by nTelos prior to October 1, 2003. The Pension Plan was closed to nTelos employees hired on or after October 1, 2003. Pension benefits vest after five years of plan service and are based on years of service and an average of the five highest consecutive years of compensation subject to certain reductions if the employee retires before reaching age 65 and elects to receive the benefit prior to age 65. Effective December 31, 2012, nTelos froze future benefit accruals. The Company uses updated mortality tables published by the Society of Actuaries that predict increasing life expectancies in the United States.

IRC Sections 412 and 430 and Sections 302 and 303 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended establish minimum funding requirements for defined benefit pension plans. The minimum required contribution is generally equal to the target normal cost plus the shortfall amortization installments for the current plan year and each of the six preceding plan years less any calculated credit balance. If plan assets (less calculated credits) are equal to or exceed the funding target, the minimum required contribution is the target normal cost reduced by the excess funding, but not below zero. The Company’s policy is to make contributions to stay at or above the threshold required in order to prevent benefit restrictions and related additional notice requirements and is intended to provide not only for benefits based on service to date, but also for those expected to be earned in the future. The Company also assumed one qualified nonpension postretirement benefit plan that provides certain health care benefits for nTelos retired employees that meet eligibility requirements. The health care plan is contributory, with participants’ contributions adjusted annually. This plan is not available to employees hired after April 1993. The accounting for the plan anticipates that the Company will maintain a consistent level of cost sharing for the benefits with the retirees. The Company’s share of the projected cost of benefits that will be paid after retirement is generally being accrued by charges to expense over the eligible employees’ service periods to the dates they are fully eligible for benefits.

The Company records annual amounts relating to the Pension Plan and postretirement benefit plan based on calculations that incorporate various actuarial and other assumptions, including discount rates, mortality, assumed rates of return, turnover rates and healthcare cost trend rates. The Company reviews its assumptions on an annual basis and makes modifications to the assumptions based on current rates and trends when it is appropriate to do so. We recognize gains and losses on pension and postretirement plan assets and obligations immediately in our operating results. These gains and losses are measured annually at December 31 and accordingly are recorded during the fourth quarter, unless earlier re-measurements are required.

The Company maintains a defined contribution 401(k) plan under which substantially all employees may defer a portion of their earnings on a pretax basis, up to the allowable federal maximum annual contribution amount. The Company may make matching and discretionary contributions to this plan. The Company acquired nTelos' defined contribution 401(k) plan at the time of the acquisition. The nTelos plan was merged into the Company's plan as of December 31, 2016.

None of these plans directly hold Company common stock in their investment portfolios.

Income taxes: Income taxes are accounted for under the asset and liability method. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date. The Company evaluates the recoverability of tax assets generated on a state-by-state basis from net operating losses apportioned to that state. Management uses a more likely than not threshold to make that determination and has concluded that at December 31, 2016 and 2015, a valuation allowance against certain state deferred tax assets is necessary, as discussed in Note 6. The Company recognizes the effect of income tax positions only if those positions are more likely than not of being sustained. Recognized income tax positions are measured at the largest amount that is greater than 50% likely of being realized. Changes in recognition or measurement are reflected in the period in which the change in judgment occurs. The Company’s policy is to record interest related to unrecognized tax benefits in interest expense and penalties in selling, general, and administrative expenses.

Revenue recognition: The Company recognizes revenue when persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, services have been rendered or products have been delivered, the price to the buyer is fixed and determinable and collectability is reasonably assured. Revenues are recognized by the Company based on the various types of transactions generating the revenue. For services, revenue is recognized as the services are performed. For equipment sales, revenue is recognized when the sales transaction is complete.

Under the Sprint Management Agreement, postpaid wireless service revenues are reported net of an 8% Management Fee and an 8.6% Net Service Fee, retained by Sprint. Prepaid wireless service revenues are reported net of a 6% Management Fee retained by Sprint.

Under the Company’s amended affiliate agreement, Sprint agreed to waive the management fee, which is historically presented as a contra-revenue by the Company, for a period of approximately six years. The impact of Sprint’s waiver of the management fee over the approximate six-year period is reflected as an increase in revenue, offset by the non-cash adjustment to recognize this impact on a straight-line basis over the contract term of approximately 14 years.

Earnings per share: Basic net income(loss) per share was computed on the weighted average number of shares outstanding. Diluted net income per share was computed under the treasury stock method, assuming the conversion as of the beginning of the period, for all dilutive stock options. Shares and options outstanding were 911 thousand, 1,312 thousand, and 1,394 thousand at December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. For 2016, due to the net loss, diluted shares are equal to weighted average shares, and diluted earnings (loss) per share is equal to basic income (loss) per share. At December 31, 2015 and 2014, 92 thousand and 22 thousand shares were anti-dilutive, respectively, and have been excluded from the computation of diluted earnings per share shown below. There were no adjustments to net income in the computation of diluted earnings per share for any of the years presented.

The following tables show the computation of basic and diluted earnings per share for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014:



	2016			2015			2014

Basic income (loss) per share	(in thousands, except per share amounts)
Net income (loss)	$	(895	)	$	40,864		$	33,883
Weighted average shares outstanding	48,807			48,388			48,198
Basic income (loss) per share	$	(0.02	)	$	0.84		$	0.70

Effect of stock options outstanding:
Weighted average shares outstanding	48,807			48,388			48,198
Assumed exercise, at the strike price at the beginning of year	—			1,302			1,410
Assumed repurchase of shares under treasury stock method	—			(666		)	(888		)
Diluted weighted average shares	48,807			49,024			48,720
Diluted income (loss) per share	$	(0.02	)	$	0.83		$	0.70

Contingencies: The Company is involved in various claims and legal actions arising in the ordinary course of business. In the opinion of management, the ultimate disposition of these matters will not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s consolidated financial position, results of operations, or liquidity.

Adoption of New Accounting Principles

During 2016, the Company adopted four recent accounting principles: Accounting Standards Update 2015-3, “Interest – Imputation of Interest” (ASU 2015-3), ASU 2015-17, “Balance Sheet Classification of Deferred Taxes”, ASU 2016-9, “Improvements to Employee Share-based Payment Accounting,” and ASU 2015-16, “Simplifying the Accounting for Measurement-Period Adjustments.”

ASU 2015-3 requires that premiums, discounts, and loan fees and costs associated with long term debt be reflected as a reduction of the outstanding debt balance. Previous guidance had treated such loan fees and costs as a deferred charge on the balance sheet. As a result of implementing ASU 2015-3, the Company reclassified $1.6 million of unamortized loan fees and costs included in deferred charges and other assets as of December 31, 2015 to long-term debt. Approximately $0.5 million was allocated to current maturities of long-term debt, and $1.1 million to long term debt. Total assets, as well as total liabilities and shareholders’ equity, were also reduced by the same $1.6 million. In addition, the Company reclassified $4.3 million of unamortized loan fees and costs included in deferred charges and other assets to long term debt in connection with the new Term loan A-1 and A-2 borrowing related to the acquisition of nTelos. Total assets, as well as total liabilities and shareholders’ equity, were also reduced by the same $4.3 million. There was no impact on the statements of income or cash flows.

ASU 2015-17 simplifies accounting for deferred taxes by eliminating the requirement to present deferred tax assets and liabilities as current and non-current in a classified balance sheet. Due to the immaterial balance of current deferred tax assets ($0.9 million as of December 31, 2015), the Company has elected to apply this guidance prospectively, and thus prior periods have not been retrospectively adjusted.

ASU 2016-9 simplifies certain provisions related to the accounting for the tax effects of stock-based compensation transactions. In particular for the Company, it eliminates the requirement to determine for each award whether the difference between book compensation and tax compensation results in an excess tax benefit or a tax deficiency, which generally speaking, result in an entry to additional paid-in-capital. Under the new guidance, all tax effects for exercised or vested awards are recognized as discrete items in income tax expense, and the Company recognized $1.7 million of tax benefits through income tax expense in 2016. The new guidance also allows an employer to withhold shares to cover more than the minimum statutory withholding taxes (but not more than the maximum statutory withholding requirements) without causing an equity-classified award to become a liability classified award. The other provisions of the new guidance are either not applicable or have no significant impact on the Company’s accounting for stock-based compensation transactions. The Company has elected to early adopt the new guidance and apply it prospectively to tax effects on share-based compensation transactions.

ASU 2015-16 requires that an acquirer recognize adjustments to provisional amounts that are identified during the measurement period in the reporting period in which the adjustment amounts are determined. See Note 16 for adjustments recorded during 2016.

Equipment Installment Plan Receivables	12 Months Ended
Equipment Installment Plan Receivables	Dec. 31, 2016
Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]
Equipment Installment Plan Receivables	Equipment Installment Plan Receivables As part of the acquisition of nTelos, the Company acquired the accounts receivable associated with nTelos’ Equipment Installment Plan, (“EIP”). This plan allowed EIP subscribers to pay for their devices in installments over a 24-month period. At the time of an installment sale, nTelos imputed interest on the installment receivable using current market interest rate estimates ranging from approximately 5% to 10%. Additionally, the customer had the right to trade in their original device after a specified period of time for a new device and have the remaining unpaid balance satisfied. This trade-in right was measured at the estimated fair value of the device being traded in based on current trade-in values and the timing of the trade-in. Immediately following the acquisition, the Company terminated the EIP offering but has continued to service the installment receivable and trade in obligation until such time that the customer migrates to Sprint. The accounts receivable associated with EIP and the trade-in liability were estimated at its fair value at acquisition date in accordance with ASC 805, “Business Combinations”. There was $0.7 million of unmigrated, acquired EIP receivables as of December 31, 2016. The short term portion of $0.6 million is included in accounts receivable, net. The long term portion of $0.1 million is included in deferred charges and other assets, net. An additional $6.7 million of acquired EIP receivables have been subsequently transferred to Sprint and the resulting receivables from Sprint are also included in accounts receivable, net, as of December 31, 2016.

Investments

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Investments [Abstract]

Investments

The Company has three classifications of investments: investments carried at fair value, investments carried at cost, and equity method investments. See Note 1 for definitions of each classification of investment.

At December 31, 2016 and 2015, investments carried at fair value consisted of:



	2016		2015
	(in thousands)
Taxable bond funds	$	24	$	24
Domestic equity funds	2,787		2,564
International equity funds	96		66
	$	2,907	$	2,654

Investments carried at fair value were acquired under a rabbi trust arrangement related to the Company’s SERP. The Company purchases investments in the trust to mirror the investment elections of participants in the SERP; gains and losses on the investments in the trust are reflected as increases or decreases in the liability owed to the participants. The Company recorded unrealized gains of $143 thousand in 2016 and unrealized losses of $141 thousand and $51 thousand in 2015 and 2014, respectively. Dividends received from the investment totaled $110 thousand, $134 thousand, and $184 thousand during 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. Fair values for these investments are determined by quoted market prices (“Level 1 fair values”) for the underlying mutual funds, which may be based upon net asset value.

At December 31, 2016 and 2015, other investments, comprised of equity securities which do not have readily determinable fair values, consist of the following:



	2016		2015
Cost method:	(in thousands)
CoBank	$	6,177	$	4,137
Other – Equity in other telecommunications partners	742		760
	6,919		4,897
Equity method:
Private equity limited partnerships	—		2,624
Other	450		504
	450		3,128
Total other investments	$	7,369	$	8,025

The Company’s investment in CoBank increased $540 thousand and $388 thousand in the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, due to the ongoing patronage earned from the outstanding investment and loan balances the Company has with CoBank. The Company also recorded an additional $1.5 million in CoBank investment as a result of the nTelos acquisition.

During the year ended December 31, 2016, the Company received distributions from its investments totaling $2.9 million in cash. During 2016, the Company accepted an offer for the sale of the remaining shares of an equity method investment. Equity method investments had a net gain of $128 thousand in the year ended December 31, 2016.

Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Property, Plant and Equipment

Property, plant and equipment consisted of the following at December 31, 2016 and 2015:



	Estimated Useful Lives	2016		2015
		(in thousands)
Land		$	13,057	$	4,181
Buildings and structures	10 – 40 years	115,960		108,341
Cable and wire	4 – 40 years	235,471		214,721
Equipment and software	2 – 16.7 years	720,830		391,260
Plant in service		1,085,318		718,503
Plant under construction		73,759		36,600
Total property, plant and equipment		1,159,077		755,103
Less accumulated amortization and depreciation		460,955		345,085
Property, plant and equipment, net		$	698,122	$	410,018

Long-Term Debt and Revolving Lines of Credit

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Debt Disclosure [Abstract]

Long-Term Debt and Revolving Lines of Credit

Total debt consists of the following:



(In thousands)	2016		2015
Term loan A	$	—	$	201,250
Term loan A-1	472,875		—
Term loan A-2	375,000		—
	847,875		201,250
Less: unamortized loan fees	18,610		1,589
Total debt, net of unamortized loan fees	$	829,265	$	199,661

Current maturities of long term debt, net of unamortized loan fees	$	32,041	$	22,492
Long-term debt, less current maturities, net of unamortized loan fees	$	797,224	$	177,169

On December 18, 2015, the Company entered into a Credit Agreement (as amended, the “2016 credit agreement”) with various banks and other financial institutions party thereto and CoBank, ACB, as administrative agent for the lenders, providing for three facilities: (i) a five year revolving credit facility of up to $75 million; (ii) a five-year term loan facility of up to $485 million (Term Loan A-1”); and (iii) a seven-year term loan facility of up to $400 million (“Term Loan A-2”).

In connection with the closing of the nTelos acquisition, the Company borrowed (i) $485 million under Term Loan A-1 and (ii) $325 million under Term Loan A-2, which amounts were used to, among other things, fund the payment of the nTelos merger consideration, to refinance, in full, all indebtedness under the Company’s existing credit agreement, to repay existing long-term indebtedness of nTelos and to pay fees and expenses in connection with the foregoing. In connection with the consummation of the nTelos acquisition, nTelos and its subsidiaries became guarantors under the 2016 credit agreement and pledged their assets as security for the obligations under the 2016 credit agreement. The 2016 credit agreement also includes $75 million available under the Term Loan A-2 as a “delayed draw term loan,” and as of December 2016, the Company drew $50 million under this portion of the agreement. Additionally, the 2016 credit agreement includes a $75 million Revolver Facility and permits the Company to enter into one or more Incremental Term Loan Facilities not to exceed $150 million in the aggregate. At December 31, 2016, no draw had been made under the Revolver Facility and the Company had not entered into any Incremental Loan Facility.

As of December 31, 2016, the Company’s indebtedness totaled $829.3 million, net of unamortized loan fees of $18.6 million, with an annualized overall weighted average interest rate of approximately 3.83%. The Term Loan A-1 bears interest at one-month LIBOR plus a margin of 2.75%, while the Term Loan A-2 bears interest at one-month LIBOR plus a margin of 3.00%. LIBOR resets monthly. These loans are more fully described below.

The Term Loan A-1 requires quarterly principal repayments of $6.1 million, which began on September 30, 2016, and will continue through June 30, 2017, increasing to $12.1 million quarterly from September 30, 2017 through June 30, 2020, increasing to $18.2 million quarterly from September 30, 2020 thereafter through March 31, 2021, with the remaining expected balance of approximately $260.7 million due June 30, 2021. The Term Loan A-2 requires quarterly principal repayments of $10.0 million beginning on September 30, 2018 through March 31, 2023, with the current remaining expected balance of approximately $185.0 million due June 30, 2023.

The 2016 credit agreement also required the Company to enter into one or more hedge agreements to manage its exposure to interest rate movements. The Company elected to hedge the minimum required under the 2016 credit agreement, and entered into a pay fixed, receive variable swap on 50% of the aggregate expected principal balance of the term loans outstanding. The Company will receive one month LIBOR and pay a fixed rate of 1.16%, in addition to the 2.75% initial spread on Term Loan A-1 and the 3.00% initial spread on Term Loan A-2.

The 2016 credit agreement contains affirmative and negative covenants customary to secured credit facilities, including covenants restricting the ability of the Company and its subsidiaries, subject to negotiated exceptions, to incur additional indebtedness and additional liens on their assets, engage in mergers or acquisitions or dispose of assets, pay dividends or make other distributions, voluntarily prepay other indebtedness, enter into transactions with affiliated persons, make investments, and change the nature of the Company’s and its subsidiaries’ businesses.

Indebtedness outstanding under any of the facilities may be accelerated by an Event of Default, as defined in the 2016 credit agreement.

The Facilities are secured by a pledge by the Company of its stock in its subsidiaries, a guarantee by the Company’s subsidiaries other than Shenandoah Telephone Company, and a security interest in substantially all of the assets of the Company and the guarantors.

The Company is subject to certain financial covenants to be measured on a trailing twelve month basis each calendar quarter unless otherwise specified. These covenants include:


•	a limitation on the Company’s total leverage ratio, defined as indebtedness divided by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, of less than or equal to 3.75 to 1.00 from the closing date through December 30, 2018, then 3.25 to 1.00 through December 30, 2019, and 3.00 to 1.00 thereafter;


•	a minimum debt service coverage ratio, defined as EBITDA minus certain cash taxes divided by the sum of all scheduled principal payments on the Term Loans and scheduled principal payments on other indebtedness plus cash interest expense, greater than 2.00 to 1.00;


•	the Company must maintain a minimum liquidity balance, defined as availability under the revolver facility plus unrestricted cash and cash equivalents on deposit in a deposit account for which a control agreement has been delivered to the administrative agent under the 2016 credit agreement, of greater than $25 million at all times.

These ratios are generally less restrictive than the covenant ratios the Company had been required to comply with under its previously existing debt arrangements. As shown below, as of December 31, 2016, the Company was in compliance with the financial covenants in its credit agreements.



	Actual		Covenant Requirement
Total Leverage Ratio	2.81	%	3.75 or Lower
Debt Service Coverage Ratio	4.23	%	2.00 or Higher
Minimum Liquidity Balance	$136 million		$25 million or Higher

Future maturities of long-term debt principal are as follows (in thousands):



2017	$	36,375
2018	68,500
2019	88,500
2020	100,625
2021	318,875
2022 and beyond	235,000
Total	$	847,875

The Company has no fixed rate debt instruments as of December 31, 2016. The estimated fair value of the variable rate debt approximates its carrying value. The fair value of the Company’s interest rate swap was an asset of $11.2 million and $688 thousand at December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively. (See Note 15).

The Company receives patronage credits from CoBank and certain of its affiliated Farm Credit institutions, which are not reflected in the stated rates shown above. Patronage credits are a distribution of profits of CoBank as approved by its Board of Directors. During the first quarter of the year, the Company receives patronage credits on its outstanding CoBank debt balance. The Company accrued $2.2 million in non-operating income in the year ended December 31, 2016, in anticipation of the early 2017 distribution of the credits by CoBank. Patronage credits have historically been paid in a mix of cash and shares of CoBank stock. The 2016 payout mix was 75% cash and 25% shares.

Income Taxes

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Total income taxes for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014 were allocated as follows:



	2016		2015			2014
	(in thousands)
Income tax expense on continuing operations	$	2,840	$	27,726		$	22,151
Shareholders’ equity, for compensation expense for tax purposes in excess of amounts recognized for financial reporting purposes	—		(679		)	(395		)
Other comprehensive income for changes in cash flow hedge	4,162		(476		)	(993		)
	$	7,002	$	26,571		$	20,763

The Company and its subsidiaries file income tax returns in several jurisdictions. The provision for the federal and state income taxes attributable to income from continuing operations consists of the following components:



	Years Ended December 31,
	2016			2015			2014
	(in thousands)
Current expense
Federal taxes	$	44,779		$	23,579		$	16,592
State taxes	10,936			5,275			2,562
Total current provision	55,715			28,854			19,154
Deferred expense (benefit)
Federal taxes	(47,056		)	(744		)	1,636
State taxes	(5,819		)	(384		)	1,361
Total deferred provision	(52,875		)	(1,128		)	2,997
Income tax expense on continuing operations	$	2,840		$	27,726		$	22,151
Effective tax rate	146.0		%	40.4		%	39.5		%

A reconciliation of income taxes determined by applying the federal and state tax rates to income from continuing operations is as follows for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014:



	Years Ended December 31,
	2016			2015		2014
	(in thousands)
Computed “expected” tax expense (35%)	$	681		$	24,007	$	19,612
State income taxes, net of federal tax effect	6			3,179		2,550
Changes in state DTL for mergers	3,320			$	—	—
Excess share based compensation	(1,709		)	—		—
Nondeductible merger expenses	801			$	—	—
Other, net	(259		)	540		(11		)
Income tax expense on continuing operations	$	2,840		$	27,726	$	22,151

The effective tax rate increased substantially in 2016 primarily due to the minimal base of pre-tax earnings in 2016 accompanied by changes in blended state rates applied to basis differences caused by the nTelos acquisition and the Company's legal entity restructuring that combined the nTelos legal entity into the Company's PCS subsidiary. The rate was further affected by the adoption of ASU 2016-09 regarding share based compensation and non-deductible transaction costs incurred during 2016 related to the nTelos acquisition.

Net deferred tax assets and liabilities consist of the following temporary differences at December 31, 2016 and 2015:



	2016			2015
	(in thousands)
Deferred tax assets:
Deferred revenues	$	8,849		$	2,367
Net operating loss carry-forwards	29,472			717
Accruals and reserves	10,517			5,658
Pension benefits	6,994			1,023
Asset retirement obligations	8,495			2,922
Intangible assets	—			325
Total gross deferred tax assets	64,327			13,012
Less valuation allowance	(709		)	(709		)
Net deferred tax assets	63,618			12,303

Deferred tax liabilities:
Plant-in-service	139,753			85,503
Intangibles	70,799			—
Interest rate swaps	4,433			271
Other, net	470			490
Total gross deferred tax liabilities	215,455			86,264
Net deferred tax liabilities	$	151,837		$	73,961

In assessing the ability to realize deferred tax assets, management considers whether it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. The ultimate realization of deferred tax assets is dependent upon generating future taxable income during the periods in which those temporary differences become deductible. Management considers the scheduled reversal of deferred tax liabilities, projected future taxable income and tax planning strategies in making this assessment. Based upon the level of historical taxable income and projections for future taxable income over the periods for which the deferred tax assets are deductible, management believes it more likely than not that the net deferred tax assets will be realized with the exception of certain state net operating losses in jurisdictions where the Company no longer operates. The Company has a deferred tax asset of $29.5 million related to federal and various state net operating losses, of which $0.7 million is associated with a valuation allowance. As of December 31, 2016, the Company had approximately $74 million of federal net operating losses expiring through 2035. The Company also has state net operating losses expiring through 2035.

As of December 31, 2016 and 2015, the Company had no unrecognized tax benefits. It is the Company’s policy to record interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits in income before taxes.

The Company files U.S. federal income tax returns and various state and local income tax returns. The Company is not currently subject to state or federal income tax audits as of December 31, 2016. The Company's returns are generally open to examination from 2013 forward and the net operating losses acquired in the acquisition of nTelos are open to examination from 2002 forward.

Significant Contractual Relationship	12 Months Ended
Significant Contractual Relationship	Dec. 31, 2016
Significant Contractual Relationship [Abstract]
Significant Contractual Relationship	Significant Contractual Relationship In 1999, the Company executed a Management Agreement (the “Agreement”) with Sprint whereby the Company committed to construct and operate a PCS network using CDMA air interface technology. Under the Agreement, the Company was the exclusive PCS Affiliate of Sprint providing wireless mobility communications network products and services on the 1900 MHz band in its territory which extends from Altoona, York and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and south along the Interstate 81 corridor through Western Maryland, the panhandle of West Virginia, to Harrisonburg, Virginia. With the recent acquisition of nTelos, the Company’s wireless service area has expanded to include south-central and western Virginia, West Virginia, and small portions of Kentucky and Ohio. The Company is authorized to use the Sprint brand in its territory, and operate its network under Sprint’s radio spectrum licenses. As an exclusive PCS Affiliate of Sprint, the Company has the exclusive right to build, own and maintain its portion of Sprint’s nationwide PCS network, in the aforementioned areas, to Sprint’s specifications. The term of the Agreement was initially set for 20 years and was automatically renewable for three 10-year options, unless terminated by either party under provisions outlined in the Agreement. Upon non-renewal by either party, the Company has the obligation to sell the business at 90% of “Entire Business Value” (“EBV”) as defined in the Agreement. EBV is defined as i) the fair market value of a going concern paid by a willing buyer to a willing seller; ii) valued as if the business will continue to utilize existing brands and operate under existing agreements; and, iii) valued as if Manager (Shentel) owns the spectrum. Determination of EBV is made by an independent appraisal process. The Agreement has been amended numerous times. During 2012, the Company amended its Agreement with Sprint in order to build a 4G LTE network in the Company’s service area. In addition to adding 4G services to the Company’s network, the Company received access to additional 1900 and 800 MHz spectrum, extended the initial term of the contract five years from 2019 to 2024 and set the maximum contract length at 45 years. The agreement also increased the cap on the Net Service Fee related to postpaid revenues. Effective August 1, 2013, the Net Service Fee increased to its 14% maximum. There is also a management fee of 8% on postpaid revenues which has remained constant for the life of the contract. During 2014, the Company amended its Agreement with Sprint in order to allow the Company’s PCS stores to begin participating in Sprint’s handset financing programs, whereby Sprint enters into a financing agreement with the subscriber and the subscriber receives a handset from Sprint. The equipment revenue from the subscriber, the handset expense and any related bad debt are Sprint’s responsibility and are not recorded by the Company. During 2015, effective January 1, 2016, the Company amended its Agreement with Sprint in order to better allocate certain costs covered by the Net Service Fee and extended the initial term to 2029. The Net Service Fee was reduced to 8.6%, and certain costs and revenues previously included within the Net Service Fee were broken out of the Net Service Fee and will be separately settled in the future. Separately settled revenues primarily consist of revenues associated with Sprint’s wholesale subscribers using the Company’s network and net travel revenue. In addition, the Company will be charged for the costs of subsidized handsets sold through Sprint’s national channels as well as commissions paid by Sprint to third-party resellers in our service territory. This treatment has not resulted in a significant change in wireless postpaid results, though it did increase total revenue and total operating expenses. Additionally, during 2015, the Company received access to certain 2.5GHz spectrum. Effective with the acquisition of nTelos on May 6, 2016, the Company amended its Agreement with Sprint to expand the Company’s service area to include most of the nTelos territory and include both the nTelos customers and Sprint customers (who were served by nTelos under a wholesale agreement with Sprint) into the Company’s subscriber base. The Company agreed to complete nTelos’ network upgrade to 4G and expand coverage and capacity throughout the nTelos territory. Sprint agreed to waive a portion of the Management Fee charged by Sprint. Under the Sprint agreements, Sprint provides the Company significant support services such as customer service, billing, collections, long distance, national network operations support, inventory logistics support, use of the Sprint brand names, national advertising, national distribution and product development. Cost of equipment transactions between the Company and Sprint relate to inventory purchased and subsidized costs of handsets. These costs also included transactions related to subsidized costs on handsets and commissions paid to Sprint for sales of handsets through Sprint’s national distribution programs. PCS is dependent upon Sprint’s ability to execute certain functions such as billing, customer care, collections and other operating activities under the Company's agreements with Sprint. Due to the high degree of integration within many of the Sprint systems, and the Company’s dependency on these systems, in many cases it would be difficult for the Company to perform these services in-house or to outsource the services to another provider. If Sprint is unable to perform any such service, the change could result in increased operating expenses and have an adverse impact on the Company's operating results and cash flow. In addition, the Company's ability to attract and maintain a sufficient customer base is critical to generating positive cash flow from operations and profits for its PCS operation. Changes in technology, increased competition, or economic conditions in the wireless industry or the economy in general, individually and/or collectively, could have an adverse effect on the Company's financial position and results of operations.

Related Party Transactions	12 Months Ended
Related Party Transactions	Dec. 31, 2016
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]
Related Party Transactions	Related Party Transactions ValleyNet, an equity method investee of the Company, resells capacity on the Company’s fiber network under an operating lease agreement. Facility lease revenue from ValleyNet was approximately $2.4 million, $2.7 million and $3.0 million in the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. At both December 31, 2016 and 2015, the Company had accounts receivable from ValleyNet of approximately $0.2 million. The Company's PCS operating subsidiary leases capacity through ValleyNet. Payment for usage of these facilities was $3.0 million, $2.4 million and $2.3 million in the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

Retirement Plans

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]

Retirement Plans

The Company assumed, through its acquisition of nTelos, a qualified pension plan and other postretirement benefit plans. We have recorded the fair value of the nTelos plans using assumptions and accounting policies consistent with those disclosed by nTelos. Upon acquisition, the excess of projected benefit obligations over the plan assets was recognized as a liability and previously existing deferred actuarial gains and losses and unrecognized service costs and benefits were eliminated.

The following tables provide the benefit obligations, fair value of assets and a statement of the funded status since the acquisition date (in thousands):



	Defined Benefit Pension Plan			Other Postretirement Benefit Plans
Benefit obligations, at acquisition	$	37,443		$	4,298
Service cost	—			18
Interest cost	956			108
Benefits paid	(340		)	—
Actuarial gain	(3,703		)	(174		)
Benefit obligations as of December 31, 2016	$	34,356		$	4,250



	Defined Benefit Pension Plan			Other Postretirement Benefit Plans
Plan assets, at acquisition	$	22,813		$	—
Actual return on Plan assets	1,722			—
Benefits paid	(340		)	—
Plan expenses	(121		)	—
Plan assets as of December 31, 2016	$	24,074		$	—

Funded status: Net liability as of December 31, 2016	$	(10,282	)	$	(4,250	)

The funded status is included in other long-term liabilities on the Company's consolidated balance sheets.

The accumulated benefit obligation for the defined benefit pension plan at May 6, 2016 was $37.4 million. The accumulated benefit obligation represents the present value of pension benefits based on service and salary earned to date. The defined benefit plan was frozen for future benefit accruals as of December 31, 2012. Accordingly, the accumulated benefit obligation is equal to the projected benefit obligation.

The following table provides the components of net periodic pension (benefit) cost for the plans for the period from acquisition date to December 31, 2016 (in thousands):



	Defined Benefit Pension Plan			Other Postretirement Benefit Plans
Components of net periodic pension (benefit) cost:
Service cost	$	—		$	18
Interest cost	956			108
Expected return on plan assets	(1,018		)	—
Actuarial gains	(4,286		)	(174		)

Net periodic (benefit) cost	$	(4,348	)	$	(48	)

We recognize gains and losses on pension and postretirement plan assets and obligations immediately in our operating results. These gains and losses are measured annually as of December 31 and accordingly are recorded during the fourth quarter, unless earlier measurements are required.

The assumptions used in the measurements of the Company’s benefit obligations at December 31, 2016 for the plans are shown in the following table:

The assumptions used in the measurements of the Company’s net periodic benefit cost (income) for the consolidated statement of operations for the period from acquisition date through December 31, 2016 are:



	Defined Benefit Pension Plan		Other Postretirement Benefit Plans
Discount rate	4.15	%	4.11	%
Expected return on plan assets	6.75	%	—	%

The Company reviews the assumptions noted in the above tables annually or more frequently to reflect anticipated future changes in the underlying economic factors used to determine these assumptions. The discount rates assumed reflect the rate at which the Company could invest in high quality corporate bonds in order to settle future obligations.

The Company uses the RP-2014 mortality table with generational improvement Scale MP-2016 published by the Society of Actuaries.

For measurement purposes, an 8.0% annual rate of increase in the per capita cost of covered health care benefits was assumed for 2016 for the obligation as of the acquisition date. The rate was assumed to decrease one-half percent per year to a rate of 5.0% for 2022 and remain at that level thereafter.

Assumed health care cost trend rates may have a significant effect on the amounts reported for the health care plans. The effect of a 1% change on the medical trend rate per future year, while holding all other assumptions constant, to the service and interest cost components of net periodic postretirement health care benefit costs and accumulated postretirement benefit obligation would be a $41 thousand increase and a $800 thousand increase, respectively, for a 1% increase in medical trend rate and a $32 thousand decrease and a $634 thousand decrease, respectively, for a 1% decrease in medical trend rate.

The weighted average expected rate of return on plan assets is based on anticipated performance of the various asset in which the plans invest, weighted by target allocation percentages. Anticipated future performance is based on long-term historical returns of the plan assets, adjusted for the long-term expectations on the performance of the markets.

The actual and target allocation for plan assets is broadly defined and measured as follows:



Asset Category	Actual Allocation		Target Allocation
Equity securities	76	%	65-75
Bond securities and cash equivalents	24	%	25-35
Total	100	%	100	%

It is the Company’s policy to invest pension plan assets in a diversified portfolio consisting of an array of asset classes. The investment risk of the assets is limited by appropriate diversification both within and between asset classes. The assets are primarily invested in investment funds that invest in a broad mix of publicly traded equities, bonds and cash equivalents (and fair value is based on quoted market prices (“Level 1” input)). The fair value of an investment fund representing 4% of total plan assets, which is included in bond and cash equivalents, is based on significant other observable inputs ("Level 2" input). The allocation between equity and bonds is reset quarterly to the target allocations. Updates to the allocation are considered in the normal course and changes may be made when appropriate. The bond holdings consist of two bond funds split relatively evenly between these funds at December 31, 2016. The maximum holdings of any one asset within these funds is under 4% of this fund and thus is well under 1% of the total portfolio. At December 31, 2016, the Company believes that there are no material concentrations of risk within the portfolio of plan assets.

The assumed long-term return noted above is the target long-term return. Overall return, risk adjusted return, and management fees are assessed against a peer group and benchmark indices. There are minimum performance standards that must be attained within the investment portfolio. Reporting on asset performance is provided quarterly and review meetings are held semi-annually. In addition to normal rebalancing to maintain an adequate cash reserve, projected cash flow needs of the plan are reviewed at least annually to ensure liquidity is properly managed.

The Company does not expect to contribute to the pension plan in 2017. The Company expects the net periodic benefit income for the defined benefit pension plan in 2017 to be $0.2 million and expects the periodic benefit cost for the other postretirement benefit plans in 2017 to be $0.2 million, excluding actuarial gains and losses which will be recorded in the fourth quarter of 2017.

The following estimated future pension benefit payments and other postretirement benefit plan payments which reflect expected future service, as appropriate, are expected to be paid in the years indicated (in thousands):



	Defined Benefit Pension Plan		Other Postretirement Benefit Plans
2017	$	684	$	187
2018	703		156
2019	752		160
2020	821		155
2021	924		170
Aggregate of next five years	6,409		925

The Company plans to make contributions to comply with minimum funding requirements of ERISA. In accordance with such practice, no contributions are required for 2017.

The Company maintains a defined contribution 401(k) plan. The Company's matching and employer discretionary contributions to the defined contribution 401(k) plan were approximately $3.8 million, $2.6 million and $2.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

The Company maintains an unfunded, non-qualified Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (the “SERP”) for named executives. In 2010, the Company curtailed future participation in the SERP. Current participants may remain in the SERP and continue to earn returns (either gains or losses) on invested balances, but the Company will make no further contributions to the SERP and no new participants will be eligible to join the SERP.

In order to provide some protection to the participants, the Company created a rabbi trust to hold assets sufficient to pay obligations under the SERP. Assets within the trust were invested to mirror participant elections as to investment options (a mix of stock and bond mutual funds); investment income, gains and losses in the trust were used to determine investment returns on the participants’ balances in the SERP. At December 31, 2016 and 2015, the total liability due to participants in the SERP was $2.9 million and $2.7 million, respectively.

Accrued and Other Liabilities Accrued and Other Liabilities

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Other Liabilities Disclosure [Abstract]

Accrued and Other Liabilities

Accrued and Other liabilities

Accrued liabilities and other include the following (in thousands):



	December 31, 2016		December 31, 2015
Sales and property taxes payable	$	6,628	$	1,055
Severance accrual, current portion	4,267		—
Asset retirement obligations, current portion	5,841		—
Other current liabilities	12,349		6,584
Accrued liabilities and other	$	29,085	$	7,639

Other liabilities include the following (in thousands):



	December 31, 2016		December 31, 2015
Non-current portion of deferred revenues	$	8,933	$	4,156
Straight-line management fee waiver	11,974		—
Other	2,836		2,229
Other liabilities	$	23,743	$	6,385

Stock Incentive Plans

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Disclosure of Compensation Related Costs, Share-based Payments [Abstract]

Stock Incentive Plans

The Company maintains two shareholder-approved Company Stock Incentive Plans allowing for the grant of equity based incentive compensation to essentially all employees. The 2005 Plan authorized grants of up to 2,880,000 shares over a ten-year period beginning in 2005. The term of the 2005 Plan expired in February 2014; outstanding awards will continue to vest and options may continue to be exercised, but no additional awards will be granted under the 2005 Plan. The 2014 Plan authorizes grants of up to an additional 3,000,000 shares over a ten-year period beginning in 2014. Under these Plans, grants may take the form of stock awards, awards of options to acquire stock, stock appreciation rights, and other forms of equity based compensation; both options to acquire stock and stock awards were granted. The option price for all grants has been the current market price at the time of the grant.

Option Awards

The Company did not grant stock options during 2016, 2015, or 2014.

A summary of outstanding options at December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, and changes during the years ended on those dates, is as follows:



	Number of Options		Weighted Average Grant Price Per Option

Outstanding December 31, 2013	1,101,014		$	8.35

Granted	—		—
Cancelled	(2,146	)	12.63
Exercised	(101,516	)	11.21
Outstanding December 31, 2014	997,352		$	8.05

Granted	—		—
Cancelled	(6,252	)	12.63
Exercised	(86,942	)	11.46
Outstanding December 31, 2015	904,158		$	7.70

Granted	—
Cancelled	(8,126	)	12.63
Exercised	(371,390	)	9.04
Outstanding December 31, 2016	524,642		$	6.67

There were options for 524,642 shares outstanding at December 31, 2016 at a weighted average price of $6.67 per share, an aggregate intrinsic value of $10.8 million and a weighted-average remaining contractual life of 5.35 years. There were options for 428,112 shares exercisable at December 31, 2016 at a weighted average exercise price of $6.61 per share, an aggregate intrinsic value of $8.9 million and a weighted-average remaining contractual life of 5.18 years. The aggregate intrinsic value represents the total pretax intrinsic value of in-the-money options, based on the Company’s closing stock price of $27.30 as of December 31, 2016.

During 2016, the total fair value of options vested was $0.3 million; the total intrinsic value of options exercised was $6.8 million. The total cash received as a result of employee stock option exercises was $3.4 million. The tax benefit realized from these exercises was $1.7 million.

Management recognizes compensation costs only for those awards expected to vest. Compensation cost recognized in 2016, 2015 and 2014 totaled $58 thousand, $142 thousand and $452 thousand, respectively, and the income tax benefit for option-based compensation arrangements recognized in 2016, 2015 and 2014 was $23 thousand, $29 thousand and $78 thousand, respectively. The total compensation cost related to non-vested options not yet recognized is $24 thousand, which will be recognized over a weighted-average period of less than two years.

Stock Awards

In February 2014, 2015 and 2016, the Company made grants of 135,562, 79,946 and 71,936 non-vested shares to 22, 21 and 23 management employees, respectively. The shares vest 25% annually; however, if an employee reaches the age of 55, has achieved 10 years of service with the Company and retires, the unvested shares are not forfeited. The awards were valued at the market price of the Company’s common stock on the date of grant ($13.00, $15.01 and $21.70 per share, respectively). In May 2016, following the acquisition, the Company made additional grants of 12,210 non-vested shares to six former nTelos employees valued at $30.27, the market price on the date of the grant. The Company also made grants of non-vested shares to the non-employee members of the Company’s Board of Directors. The Company granted 12,304, 31,984 and 26,790 shares in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively, valued at the market price of the Company’s common stock on the grant date ($13.00, $15.01 and $21.70 per share, respectively). The 2014 shares vest 33% annually, while the 2015 and 2016 shares fully vest after one year.

In April 2016, retirement provisions were added to the director grants that all directors at that time met, eliminating the future service requirement for vesting in the outstanding grants. All unrecognized stock compensation was fully recognized at that time.

In February 2015 and 2016, the Company made grants of 48,576 and 44,326, respectively, of non-vested share units to eight management employees. These grants were made under a Relative Total Shareholder Return (“RTSR”) plan structure. Under this structure, the Company’s stock performance over an approximate three year period ending on December 31 in the third year following the grant, will be compared to a group of peer companies, and a payout will be determined based upon the Company’s performance relative to the performance of the peer groups. The payout could range anywhere from zero shares awarded, up to 150% of the granted share units, or 72,864 and 66,489 shares for 2015 and 2016. The fair value of the grants for 2015 and 2016, ($15.66 and $24.10) were determined as of the grant dates using a Monte Carlo simulation. The following assumptions were utilized in the valuations:



	2015	2016
Stock price (closing price on issue date)	$15.01	$21.70
Risk-free interest rate (interpolated rate between 2-year and 3-year U.S. treasury rates)	0.95%	0.89%
Dividend yield	1.57%	1.11%
Performance period	2.87 years	2.87 years

In May 2014, 2015 and 2016, the Company made grants of non-vested shares to select other employees. In May 2014, the Company granted 33,664 shares, of which 9,390 were vested and distributed immediately. In May 2015, the Company granted 29,752 shares, of which 10,180 were vested and distributed immediately. In May 2016, the Company granted 17,258 shares, of which 6,984 were vested and distributed immediately. The remaining shares in each award vest in various schedules over four years. Beginning with the 2015 shares, if an employee reaches the age of 55, has achieved 10 years of service with the Company and retires, the unvested shares are not forfeited. The awards were valued at the market price of the Company’s common stock on the date of grant ($12.83, $17.23 and $31.33 per share in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively).

A summary of outstanding share grants at December 31, 2016, 2015, and 2014, and changes during the years ended on those dates, is as follows:



	Shares

Outstanding December 31, 2013	426,180

Granted	181,530
Cancelled	(10,764	)
Vested and issued	(161,674	)
Outstanding December 31, 2014	435,272

Granted	190,258
Cancelled	(6,736	)
Vested and issued	(211,498	)
Outstanding December 31, 2015	407,296

Granted	172,520
Cancelled	(3,537	)
Vested and issued	(190,254	)
Outstanding December 31, 2016	386,025

Compensation cost recognized for share awards during 2016, 2015 and 2014, was $3.4 million, $2.6 million and $2.2 million, respectively. The income tax benefit for share-based compensation arrangements was $1.4 million, $1.3 million, and $0.9 million for 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

As of December 31, 2016, the total compensation cost related to non-vested share awards not yet recognized is $2.1 million which will be recognized over a weighted-average period of 2.0 years.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for compensation-related costs for equity-based compensation, which may include disclosure of policies, compensation plan details, allocation of equity compensation, incentive distributions, equity-based arrangements to obtain goods and services, deferred compensation arrangements, employee stock ownership plan details and employee stock purchase plan details.

+ References + Details

Major Customer	12 Months Ended
Major Customer	Dec. 31, 2016
Risks and Uncertainties [Abstract]
Major Customer	Major Customer The Company has one major customer relationship with Sprint that is a significant source of revenue. Approximately 69% of total operating revenues for the year ended December 31, 2016, 56% of total operating revenues for the year ended December 31, 2015, and 58% of total operating revenues for the year ended December 31, 2014, were generated by or through Sprint and its customers using the Company's portion of Sprint’s nationwide PCS network.

Shareholder Rights Plan	12 Months Ended
Shareholder Rights Plan	Dec. 31, 2016
Stockholders' Equity Note [Abstract]
Shareholder Rights Plan	Shareholder Rights Plan Effective as of February 8, 2008, the Board of Directors adopted a Shareholder Rights Plan (the “Plan”), with a stated expiration date of February 8, 2018. The Plan provided that, under certain circumstances, holders of each right (granted at one right per share of outstanding common stock) were entitled to purchase shares of the Company's common stock at a discounted price. The rights were only exercisable if a person or group became or attempted to become the beneficial owner of 15% or more of the Company's common stock and, under the terms of the Plan, such a person or group would not be entitled to the benefits of the rights. The Plan required a separate Three-year Independent Director Evaluation committee of the Board of Directors (the “TIDE Committee”), comprised of independent directors of the Company, to review and evaluate the Plan at least every three years in order to consider whether the Plan continued to be in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders. As a result of the TIDE Committee's review of the Plan in January 2017, and the Committee's subsequent recommendation to the Board of Directors, the Plan was terminated, effective February 28, 2017, prior to its scheduled expiration date of February 8, 2018.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for shareholders' equity comprised of portions attributable to the parent entity and noncontrolling interest, including other comprehensive income. Includes, but is not limited to, balances of common stock, preferred stock, additional paid-in capital, other capital and retained earnings, accumulated balance for each classification of other comprehensive income and amount of comprehensive income.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (SAB Topic 4.E)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=27010918&loc=d3e74567-122707

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 505
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6928386&loc=d3e21484-112644

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02(29))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
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Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 235
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.4-08(e))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26873400&loc=d3e23780-122690

Reference 6: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02(31))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

Reference 7: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 505
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (SAB Topic 4.C)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=27012166&loc=d3e187143-122770

Reference 8: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02(30))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

Reference 9: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 505
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 6
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6928386&loc=d3e21506-112644

Reference 10: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 235
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.4-08(d))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26873400&loc=d3e23780-122690

Reference 11: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 505
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-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.3-04)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=27012166&loc=d3e187085-122770

Reference 12: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 505
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-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6405834&loc=d3e23285-112656

Reference 13: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 505
-SubTopic 10
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-Paragraph 3
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6928386&loc=d3e21475-112644

Reference 14: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Glossary Preferred Stock
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6521494

Reference 15: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 505
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Reference 16: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
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+ Details

Lease Commitments

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Leases [Abstract]

Lease Commitments

The Company leases land, buildings and tower space under various non-cancelable agreements, which expire between the years 2017 and 2043 and require various minimum annual rental payments. These leases typically include renewal options and escalation clauses. In general, tower leases have five or ten year initial terms with four renewal terms of five years each. The other leases generally contain certain renewal options for periods ranging from five to twenty years. The total number of leases increased significantly with the acquisition of nTelos.

Future minimum lease payments under non-cancelable operating leases, including renewals that are reasonably assured at the inception of the lease, with initial variable lease terms in excess of one year as of December 31, 2016, are as follows:



Year Ending	Amount
	(in thousands)
2017	$	49,006
2018	48,557
2019	47,777
2020	46,908
2021	46,700
2022 and beyond	241,840
	$	480,788

The Company’s total rent expense was $43.8 million, $16.9 million, and $16.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

As lessor, the Company has leased buildings, tower space and telecommunications equipment to other entities under various non-cancelable agreements, which require various minimum annual payments. The total minimum rental receipts at December 31, 2016 are as follows:



Year Ending	Amount
	(in thousands)
2017	$	6,044
2018	5,724
2019	5,435
2020	4,753
2021	2,708
2022 and beyond	3,011
	$	27,675

The Company’s total rental income was $7.2 million, $6.3 million, and $6.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. Total rental income includes month-to-month leases which are excluded from the table above.

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Abstract]

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities

The Company’s objectives in using interest rate derivatives are to add stability to cash flows and to manage its exposure to interest rate movements. To accomplish this objective, the Company primarily uses interest rate swaps as part of its interest rate risk management strategy. Interest rate swaps (both those designated as cash flow hedges as well as those not designated as cash flow hedges) involve the receipt of variable-rate amounts from a counterparty in exchange for the Company making fixed-rate payments over the life of the agreements without exchange of the underlying notional amount.

The Company entered into a pay fixed, receive variable interest rate swap of $174.6 million of initial notional principal in September 2012. This interest rate swap was designated as a cash flow hedge. The outstanding notional amount of this cash flow hedge was $135.3 million and $152.8 million as of December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively. The outstanding notional amount decreases as the Company makes scheduled principal payments on the debt.

In May 2016, the Company entered into a pay-fixed, receive-variable interest rate swap of $256.6 million of notional principal with three counterparties. This interest rate swap was designated as a cash flow hedge. The outstanding notional amount of this cash flow hedge was $301.1 million as of December 31, 2016. The outstanding notional amount increases with each expected draw on the term debt and decreases as the Company makes scheduled principal payments on the debt. In combination with the swap entered into in 2012 described above, the Company is hedging approximately 50% of the expected outstanding debt (including expected draws under the delayed draw term loan).

The effective portion of changes in the fair value of interest rate swaps designated and that qualify as cash flow hedges is recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income and is subsequently reclassified into earnings in the period that the hedged forecasted transaction affects earnings. The Company uses its derivatives to hedge the variable cash flows associated with existing variable-rate debt. The ineffective portion of the change in fair value of the derivative is recognized directly in earnings through interest expense. No hedge ineffectiveness was recognized during any of the periods presented.

Amounts reported in accumulated other comprehensive income related to the interest rate swap designated and that qualify as cash flow hedges are reclassified to interest expense as interest payments are accrued on the Company’s variable-rate debt. As of December 31, 2016, the Company estimates that $0.9 million will be reclassified as an increase to interest expense during the next twelve months due to the interest rate swap since the hedge interest rate exceeds the variable interest rate on the debt.

The table below presents the fair value of the Company’s derivative financial instruments as well as its classification on the consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2016 and 2015 (in thousands):



		Fair Value as of
	Balance Sheet Location	December 31, 2016			December 31, 2015
Derivatives designated as hedging instruments:
Interest rate swaps
	Accrued liabilities and other	$	(895	)	$	(682	)
	Deferred charges and other assets, net	12,118			1,370

Total derivatives designated as hedging instruments		$	11,223		$	688

The fair value of interest rate swaps is determined using a pricing model with inputs that are observable in the market (Level 2 fair value inputs).

The table below presents changes in accumulated other comprehensive income by component for the twelve months ended December 31, 2016 (in thousands):



	Gains on Cash Flow Hedges		Income Tax (Expense) Benefit			Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income
Balance as of December 31, 2015	$	688	$	(273	)	$	415
Other comprehensive income before reclassifications	8,370		(3,306		)	5,064
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income (to interest expense)	2,165		(856		)	1,309
Net current period other comprehensive income (loss)	10,535		(4,162		)	6,373
Balance as of December 31, 2016	$	11,223	$	(4,435	)	$	6,788

- Definition

The entire disclosure for derivative instruments and hedging activities including, but not limited to, risk management strategies, non-hedging derivative instruments, assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses, and methodologies and assumptions used in determining the amounts.

+ References

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+ Details

Acquisition of NTELOS Holdings Corp. and Exchange with Sprint

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Business Combinations [Abstract]

Acquisition of NTELOS Holdings Corp. and Exchange with Sprint

On May 6, 2016, the Company completed its previously announced acquisition of NTELOS Holdings Corp. (“nTelos”) for $667.8 million, net of cash acquired. The acquisition was entered into to improve shareholder value through the expansion of the Company's wireless service area and customer base while strengthening our relationship with Sprint. The purchase price was financed by a credit facility arranged by CoBank, ACB, Royal Bank of Canada, Fifth Third Bank, Bank of America, N.A., Capital One, National Association, Citizens Bank N.A., and Toronto Dominion (Texas) LLC. The Company has included the operations of nTelos for financial reporting purposes for the period subsequent to the acquisition. The Company has accounted for the acquisition of nTelos under the acquisition method of accounting, in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 805, “Business Combinations”, and will account for any measurement period adjustments under Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2015-16, “Simplifying the Accounting for Measurement Period Adjustments”. Under the acquisition method of accounting, the total purchase price is allocated to the tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed in connection with the acquisition based on their estimated fair values.

The following table shows the initial estimate of value and changes recorded through December 31, 2016 (in thousands):



	Initial Estimate		Revisions			Revised Estimate
Accounts receivable	$	48,476	$	(2,788	)	$	45,688
Inventory	3,810		762			4,572
Restricted cash	2,167		—			2,167
Investments	1,501		—			1,501
Prepaid expenses and other assets	14,835		—			14,835
Building held for sale	4,950		—			4,950
Property, plant and equipment	223,900		4,376			228,276
Spectrum licenses	198,200		—			198,200
Customer based contract rights	198,200		8,546			206,746
Favorable lease intangible assets	11,000		6,029			17,029
Goodwill	151,627		(6,485		)	145,142
Other long term assets	10,288		555			10,843
Total assets acquired	$	868,954	$	10,995		$	879,949

Accounts payable	$	8,648	$	(105	)	$	8,543
Advanced billings and customer deposits	12,477		—			12,477
Accrued expenses	25,230		(345		)	24,885
Capital lease liability	418		—			418
Deferred tax liabilities	124,964		1,625			126,589
Retirement benefits	19,461		(263		)	19,198
Other long-term liabilities	14,056		6,029			20,085
Total liabilities assumed	205,254		6,941			212,195

Net assets acquired	$	663,700	$	4,054		$	667,754

The fair values of the net assets acquired and the liabilities assumed were based on management’s preliminary estimates and assumptions that are subject to change within the purchase price allocation period (generally one year from the acquisition date). While substantially complete, the primary area of the purchase price allocation not yet finalized includes construction in process and income taxes.

Closing on the sale of the former nTelos headquarters building held for sale was completed in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Revisions to the provisional estimates shown above reflect:


•	revisions to fair value adjustments for financed handset receivables to reflect customer behavior at the time of the acquisition, applied to both the current and long-term portions of these receivables;


•	a reduction in the estimated loss on Android inventory to be sold for salvage post-closing;


•	adjustments to construction materials and inventory, less other fixed assets;


•	an increase to opening taxes receivable based upon completing the 2015 returns


•	the increase in net assets acquired resulting from the settlement of the appraisal rights dispute and an increase in the net debt payoff;


•	reduction in the reserve for health care claims expected to be paid post-closing for medical expenses incurred pre-closing;


•	an adjustment to move unfavorable lease liabilities from assets to other long-term liabilities


•	the value assigned to certain customer based intangibles increased, with an offset to goodwill; and


•	the increase in deferred taxes payable (offset by an increase in goodwill) resulting from several of the changes shown above as well as true-ups in the net tax basis of fixed assets resulting from completion of nTelos' 2015 tax returns.

In addition to the changes in balances reflected above, the Company revised the provisional estimated useful lives of certain assets and recorded an adjustment to depreciation expense of $4.6 million relating to the second quarter for these assets.

Concurrently with acquiring nTelos, PCS completed its previously announced transaction with SprintCom, Inc., an affiliate of Sprint Corporation (“Sprint”). Pursuant to this transaction, among other things, the Company exchanged spectrum licenses, valued at $198.2 million and customer based contract rights, valued at $206.7 million, acquired from nTelos with Sprint, and received an expansion of its affiliate service territory to include most of the service area served by nTelos, valued at $284.1 million, as well as additional customer based contract rights, valued at $120.9 million, relating to nTelos’ and Sprint’s legacy customers in the Company’s affiliate service territory. These exchanges were accounted for in accordance with ASC 845, “Nonmonetary Transactions”. The transfer of spectrum to Sprint resulted in a taxable gain to the Company which will be recognized as the Company recognizes the cash benefit of the waived management fees over the next approximately six years.

The value of the affiliate agreement expansion is based on changes to the amended affiliate agreement that include:


•	an increase in the price to be paid by Sprint from 80% to 90% of the entire business value of PCS if the affiliate agreement is not renewed;


•	extension of the affiliate agreement with Sprint by five years to 2029;


•	expanded territory in the nTelos service area;


•	rights to serve all future Sprint customers in the affiliate service territory;


•	the Company’s commitment to upgrade certain coverage and capacity in its newly acquired service area; and

•

a reduction of the management fee charged by Sprint under the amended affiliate agreement; not to exceed $4.2 million in an individual month until the total waived fee equals $251.8 million, as well as an additional waiver of the management fee charged with respect to the former nTelos customers until the earlier of migration to the Sprint back-office billing and related systems or six months following the acquisition; not to exceed $5.0 million.

Intangible assets resulting from the acquisition of nTelos and the Sprint exchange, both described above, are noted below (dollars in thousands):



	Useful Life	Basis
Affiliate contract agreement	14 years	$	284,100
Customer based contract rights	4-10 years	120,855
Favorable lease intangible assets	3-19 years	17,029

The affiliate contract agreement intangible asset value was increased by $29.7 million during the third quarter of 2016 and reduced by $3.7 million during the fourth quarter of 2016, and will be amortized on a straight-line basis and recorded as a contra-revenue over the remaining 14 year initial contract term. The Company recorded an adjustment of $0.4 million of additional amortization expense on this asset based on the increase during the third quarter of 2016 that related to the second quarter of 2016, while the fourth quarter decrease resulted in reduced amortization expense of $0.1 million in the third quarter of 2016. The favorable lease intangible assets will be amortized on a straight-line basis and recorded through rent expense. The customer based contract rights will be amortized over the life of the customers, gradually decreasing over the expected life of this asset, and recorded through amortization expense. The customer based contract rights value was reduced by $24.5 million during the third quarter of 2016, and amortization expense was reduced by $0.5 million during the third quarter that related to second quarter 2016. These assets were increased by $7.1 million during the fourth quarter of 2016, resulting in additional amortization expense of $0.3 million and $0.4 million in the second and third quarters, respectively, of 2016. The value of these two assets changed primarily due to the effect on the initial provisional values of where certain cash flows should be reflected in those valuations.

The Company has recorded goodwill in its Wireless segment as a result of the nTelos acquisition. This goodwill is not amortizable for tax purposes, as the Company acquired the common stock of nTelos.

Prior to the acquisition, nTelos was eligible to receive up to $5.0 million in connection with its winning bid in the Connect America Fund's Mobility Fund Phase I Auction ("Auction 901"). Pursuant to the terms of Auction 901, nTelos obtained a Letter of Credit (“LOC”) in the amount of $2.2 million for the benefit of the Universal Service Administrative Company (“USAC”) to cover each disbursement plus the amount of the performance default penalty (10% of the total eligible award). In accordance with the terms of the LOC, nTelos deposited $2.2 million into a separate account at the issuing bank to serve as cash collateral and this balance was presented as restricted cash. These funds were released to the Company during the fourth quarter of 2016 when the LOC was terminated.

Prior to the acquisition, certain third party investors held a non-controlling interest in one of nTelos’ subsidiaries. Concurrently with the acquisition of nTelos, the Company acquired these interests in exchange for 380,000 shares of Company common stock, to be paid in five equal installments, with the first installment paid immediately and the remaining four to be paid over the next 4 years. This transaction was valued at $10.4 million.

In connection with the acquisition, at closing, the Company borrowed $810.0 million in term loans with a weighted average effective interest rate of approximately 3.84%. The proceeds were used to finance in part the acquisition, including the repayment of the Company’s term loan of $195.5 million, and the repayment of nTelos’ term loans at the outstanding principal amount of $521.6 million, without penalty.

Following are the unaudited pro forma results of the Company for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, as if the acquisition of nTelos had occurred at the beginning of each of the periods presented. (in thousands)



	Years Ended December 31,
	2016		2015
Operating revenues	$	646,769	$	678,475
Income before income taxes	$	2,989	$	54,716

The pro forma disclosures shown above are based upon estimated preliminary valuations of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed as well as preliminary estimates of depreciation and amortization charges thereon, that may differ from the final fair values of the acquired assets and assumed liabilities and the resulting depreciation and amortization charges thereon. Other pro forma adjustments include the following:


•	changes in nTelos’ reported revenues from cancelling nTelos’ wholesale contract with Sprint;


•	the incorporation of the Sprint-homed customers formerly serviced under the wholesale agreement into the Company’s affiliate service territory under the Company’s affiliate agreement with Sprint;

•

the effect of other changes to revenues and expenses due to various provisions of the affiliate agreement, including fees charged under the affiliate agreement on revenues from former nTelos customers, a reduction of the net service fee charged by Sprint, the straight-line impact of the waived management fee, and the amortization of the affiliate agreement expansion intangible asset; and the elimination of non-recurring transaction related expenses incurred by the Company and nTelos;


•	the elimination of certain nTelos operating costs associated with billing and care that are covered under the fees charged by Sprint under the affiliate agreement;


•	historical depreciation expense was reduced for the fair value adjustment decreasing the basis of property, plant and equipment; this decrease was offset by a shorter estimated useful life to conform to the Company’s standard policy and the acceleration of depreciation on certain equipment; and


•	incremental amortization due to the customer-based contract rights associated with acquired customers.

In connection with these transactions, the Company chose to proactively migrate the former nTelos customers to devices which can interact with the Sprint billing and network systems, and expects to incur a total of approximately $90 million of integration and acquisition expenses associated with this transaction, excluding approximately $23 million of debt issuance costs. These costs include the nTelos back office staff and support functions until the nTelos legacy customers are migrated to the Sprint billing platform; costs of the handsets to be provided to nTelos legacy customers as they migrate to the Sprint billing platform; severance costs for back office and other former nTelos employees who will not be retained permanently; transaction related fees; net of proceeds from the sale of the former nTelos headquarters building. We have incurred $54.7 million of these costs in the year ended December 31, 2016, including $1.3 million reflected in cost of goods and services and $11.1 million reflected in selling, general and administrative costs in the year ended December 31, 2016.

The amounts of operating revenue and income or loss before income taxes related to the former nTelos entity are not readily determinable due to intercompany transactions, allocations and integration activities that have occurred in connection with the operations of the combined company.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for a business combination (or series of individually immaterial business combinations) completed during the period, including background, timing, and recognized assets and liabilities. The disclosure may include leverage buyout transactions (as applicable).

+ References

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+ Details

Segment Reporting

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Segment Reporting

Operating segments are defined as components of an enterprise about which separate financial information is available that is evaluated regularly by the chief operating decision maker. The Company has three reportable segments, which the Company operates and manages as strategic business units organized by lines of business: (1) Wireless, (2) Cable, and (3) Wireline. A fourth segment, Other, primarily includes Shenandoah Telecommunications Company, the parent holding company.

The Wireless segment had provided digital wireless service to a portion of a four-state area covering the region from Harrisburg, York and Altoona, Pennsylvania, to Harrisonburg, Virginia, as a Sprint PCS Affiliate. With the recent acquisition of nTelos, the Company's wireless service has expanded to include south-central and western Virginia, West Virginia, and small portions of Kentucky and Ohio. This segment also owns cell site towers built on leased land, and leases space on these towers to both affiliates and non-affiliated service providers.

The Cable segment provides video, internet and voice services in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland, and leases fiber optic facilities throughout southern Virginia and West Virginia. It does not include video, internet and voice services provided to customers in Shenandoah County, Virginia.

The Wireline segment provides regulated and unregulated voice services, DSL internet access, and long distance access services throughout Shenandoah County and portions of Rockingham, Frederick, Warren and Augusta counties, Virginia. The segment also provides video and cable modem services in portions of Shenandoah County, and leases fiber optic facilities throughout the northern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, northern Virginia and adjacent areas along the Interstate 81 corridor through West Virginia, Maryland and portions of central and southern Pennsylvania.

Year ended December 31, 2016

(In thousands)



	Wireless		Cable		Wireline		Other			Eliminations			Consolidated Totals
External revenues
Service revenues	$	359,769	$	99,070	$	19,646	—			—			$	478,485
Other revenues	24,364		7,927		24,512		—			—			56,803
Total external revenues	384,133		106,997		44,158		—			—			535,288
Internal revenues	4,620		1,737		30,816		—			(37,173		)	—
Total operating revenues	388,753		108,734		74,974		—			(37,173		)	535,288

Operating expenses
Costs of goods and services, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below	133,113		58,581		36,259		—			(34,433		)	193,520
Selling, general and administrative, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown below	95,851		19,248		6,474		14,492			(2,740		)	133,325
Integration and acquisition expenses	25,927		—		—		16,305			—			42,232
Depreciation and amortization	107,621		23,908		11,717		439			—			143,685
Total operating expenses	362,512		101,737		54,450		31,236			(37,173		)	512,762
Operating income (loss)	$	26,241	$	6,997	$	20,524	$	(31,236	)	$	—		$	22,526

Year ended December 31, 2015

(In thousands)



	Wireless		Cable		Wireline		Other			Eliminations			Consolidated Totals
External revenues
Service revenues	$	192,752	$	88,980	$	19,386	—			—			$	301,118
Other revenues	11,609		7,793		21,965		—			—			41,367
Total external revenues	204,361		96,773		41,351		—			—			342,485
Internal revenues	4,440		849		26,069		—			(31,358		)	—
Total operating revenues	208,801		97,622		67,420		—			(31,358		)	342,485

Operating expenses
Costs of goods and services, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below	63,570		54,611		31,668		—			(28,519		)	121,330
Selling, general and administrative, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown below	35,792		19,412		6,612		13,844			(2,839		)	72,821
Integration and acquisition expenses	—		—		—		3,546			—			3,546
Depreciation and amortization	34,416		23,097		12,736		453			—			70,702
Total operating expenses	133,778		97,120		51,016		17,843			(31,358		)	268,399
Operating income (loss)	$	75,023	$	502	$	16,404	$	(17,843	)	$	—		$	74,086

Year ended December 31, 2014

(In thousands)



	Wireless		Cable			Wireline		Other			Eliminations			Consolidated Totals
External revenues
Service revenues	$	191,147	$	77,179		$	18,919	—			—			$	287,245
Other revenues	11,867		7,224			20,610		—			—			39,701
Total external revenues	203,014		84,403			39,529		—			—			326,946
Internal revenues	4,440		150			23,506		—			(28,096		)	—
Total operating revenues	207,454		84,553			63,035		—			(28,096		)	326,946

Operating expenses
Costs of goods and services, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below	73,290		51,982			30,088		—			(25,617		)	129,743
Selling, general and administrative, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown below	33,171		19,521			6,009		13,148			(2,479		)	69,370
Depreciation and amortization	31,111		23,148			11,224		407			—			65,890
Total operating expenses	137,572		94,651			47,321		13,555			(28,096		)	265,003
Operating income (loss)	$	69,882	$	(10,098	)	$	15,714	$	(13,555	)	$	—		$	61,943

A reconciliation of the total of the reportable segments’ operating income to consolidated income from continuing operations before income taxes is as follows:



	Years Ended December 31,
(In thousands)	2016			2015			2014
Total consolidated operating income	$	22,526		$	74,086		$	61,943
Interest expense	(25,102		)	(7,355		)	(8,148		)
Non-operating income, net	4,521			1,859			2,239
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	$	1,945		$	68,590		$	56,034

The Company’s assets by segment are as follows:

(In thousands)



	December 31, 2016			December 31, 2015
Wireless	$	1,101,716		$	205,718
Cable	218,471			209,132
Wireline	115,282			105,369
Other	1,059,898			463,390
Combined totals	2,495,367			983,609
Inter-segment eliminations	(1,010,960		)	(356,458		)
Consolidated totals	$	1,484,407		$	627,151

- Definition

The entire disclosure for reporting segments including data and tables. Reportable segments include those that meet any of the following quantitative thresholds a) it's reported revenue, including sales to external customers and intersegment sales or transfers is 10 percent or more of the combined revenue, internal and external, of all operating segments b) the absolute amount of its reported profit or loss is 10 percent or more of the greater, in absolute amount of 1) the combined reported profit of all operating segments that did not report a loss or 2) the combined reported loss of all operating segments that did report a loss c) its assets are 10 percent or more of the combined assets of all operating segments.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 280
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 34
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=68060357&loc=d3e8981-108599

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 280
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Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
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Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
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Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
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-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=68060357&loc=d3e8380-108599

Reference 6: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
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-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=68060357&loc=d3e8933-108599

Reference 7: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
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Reference 8: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
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Reference 9: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
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-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=68060357&loc=d3e9031-108599

Reference 10: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
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-SubTopic 10
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Reference 11: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 280
-SubTopic 10
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Reference 12: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 280
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-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=68060357&loc=d3e8864-108599

Reference 13: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 280
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-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=68060357&loc=d3e8924-108599

Reference 14: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 280
-SubTopic 10
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-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=68060357&loc=d3e8906-108599

+ Details

Quarterly Results (unaudited)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Quarterly Financial Information Disclosure [Abstract]

Quarterly Results (unaudited)

The following table shows selected quarterly results for the Company.

(in thousands except per share data)



For the year ended December 31, 2016	First		Second			Third			Fourth			Total
Operating revenues	$	92,571	$	130,309		$	156,836		$	155,572		$	535,288
Operating income (loss)	21,312		(7,046		)	(3,929		)	12,189			22,526
Net income (loss)	13,880		(6,995		)	(7,596		)	(184		)	(895		)

Net income (loss) per share – basic	0.29		(0.14		)	(0.16		)	0.00			(0.02		)
Net income (loss) per share – diluted	0.28		(0.14		)	(0.16		)	0.00			(0.02		)

For the year ended December 31, 2015	First		Second			Third			Fourth			Total
Operating revenues	$	84,287	$	85,701		$	85,212		$	87,285		$	342,485
Operating income	18,526		18,750			15,089			21,721			74,086
Net income	10,286		10,474			7,996			12,108			40,864

Net income per share - basic	0.21		0.22			0.17			0.24			0.84
Net income per share - diluted	0.21		0.21			0.17			0.24			0.83

Subsequent Event	12 Months Ended
Subsequent Event	Dec. 31, 2016
Subsequent Events [Abstract]
Subsequent Event	Subsequent Event On March 9, 2017, the Company and Sprint entered into Addendum XX to the Sprint PCS Management Agreement. Addendum XX provides for (i) an expansion of the Company’s “Service Area” (as defined in the Sprint PCS Management Agreement) to include certain areas in Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio and West Virginia (the “Expansion Area”), (ii) certain network build out requirements in the Expansion Area over the next three years, (iii) the Company’s provision of prepaid field sales support to Sprint and its affiliates in the Service Area, (iv) Sprint’s provision of spectrum use to the Company in the Expansion Area, (v) the addition of Horizon as a party to the Sprint PCS Management Agreement and the Sprint PCS Services Agreement (collectively, the “Affiliate Agreements”) and (vi) certain other amendments to the Affiliate Agreements. In connection with the execution of Addendum XX, on March 9, 2017, the Company and Sprint entered into an agreement to, among other things, transfer to Sprint certain customers in the Expansion Area and the underlying customer agreements and transition the provision of network coverage in the Expansion Area from Sprint to the Company. The completion of the transfer of customers in the Expansion Area is expected to occur during the second quarter of 2017.

Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Principles of consolidation	Principles of consolidation: The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of all wholly owned subsidiaries. All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The Company has no involvement with variable interest entities. The Company accounts for investments over which it has significant influence but not a controlling financial interest using the equity method of accounting.
Use of estimates	Use of estimates: Management of the Company has made a number of estimates and assumptions related to the reporting of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. Management reviews its estimates, including those related to recoverability and useful lives of assets as well as liabilities for income taxes and pension benefits. Changes in facts and circumstances may result in revised estimates, and actual results could differ from those reported estimates.
Cash and cash equivalents	Cash and cash equivalents: The Company considers all temporary cash investments purchased with a maturity of three months or less to be cash equivalents. Cash equivalents at December 31, 2015 included $40.1 million invested in institutional cash management funds. The Company places its temporary cash investments with high credit quality financial institutions. Generally, such investments are in excess of FDIC or SIPC insurance limits.
Accounts receivable	Accounts receivable: Accounts receivable are recorded at the invoiced amount and generally do not bear interest. The allowance for doubtful accounts is the Company’s best estimate of the amount of probable credit losses in the Company’s existing accounts receivable. The Company determines the allowance based on historical write-off experience and industry and local economic data. The Company reviews its allowance for doubtful accounts monthly. Past due balances meeting specific criteria are reviewed individually for collectability. All other balances are reviewed on a pooled basis. Account balances are charged off against the allowance after all means of collection have been exhausted and the potential for recovery is considered remote. Accounts receivable are concentrated among customers within the Company's geographic service area and large telecommunications companies.
Inventories	Inventories: The Company's inventories consist primarily of items held for resale such as devices and accessories. The Company values its inventory at the lower of cost or market. Inventory cost is computed on an average cost basis. Market value is determined by reviewing current replacement cost, marketability and obsolescence.
Investments	Investments: The classifications of debt and equity securities are determined by management at the date individual investments are acquired. The appropriateness of such classification is periodically reassessed. The Company monitors the fair value of all investments, and based on factors such as market conditions, financial information and industry conditions, the Company will reflect impairments in values as is warranted. The classification of those securities and the related accounting policies are as follows: Investments Carried at Fair Value: Investments in equity and bond mutual funds and investment trusts held within the Company’s rabbi trust, which is related to the Company’s unfunded Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan, are reported at fair value using net asset value per share. The Company has elected to recognize unrealized gains and losses on investments carried at fair value in earnings, pursuant to the fair value option in Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 820, Fair Value Measurement. Investments Carried at Cost: Investments in common stock in which the Company does not have a significant ownership (less than 20%) and for which there is no ready market, are carried at cost. This category includes required investments to obtain services, primarily with CoBank. Information regarding investments carried at cost is reviewed for evidence of impairment in value. Impairments are charged to earnings and a new cost basis for the investment is established. Equity Method Investments: Investments in partnerships and in unconsolidated corporations where the Company's ownership is 20% or more, but less than 50%, or where the Company otherwise has the ability to exercise significant influence, are reported under the equity method. Under this method, the Company's equity in earnings or losses of investees is reflected in earnings. Distributions received reduce the carrying value of these investments. The Company recognizes a loss when there is a decline in value of the investment which is other than a temporary decline.
Property, plant and equipment	Property, plant and equipment: Property, plant and equipment is stated at cost less accumulated depreciation and amortization. The Company capitalizes all costs associated with the purchase, deployment and installation of property, plant and equipment, including interest costs on major capital projects during the period of their construction. Expenditures, including those on leased assets, which extend the useful life or increase its utility, are capitalized. Maintenance expense is recognized when repairs are performed. Depreciation is calculated on the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the assets. Depreciation and amortization is not included in the income statement line items “Cost of goods and services” or “Selling, general and administrative.” Depreciable lives are assigned to assets based on their estimated useful lives. Leasehold improvements are depreciated over the lesser of their useful lives or respective lease terms. The Company takes technology changes into consideration as it assigns the estimated useful lives, and monitors the remaining useful lives of asset groups to reasonably match the remaining economic life with the useful life and makes adjustments when necessary.
Valuation of long-lived assets	Valuation of long-lived assets: Long‑lived assets, such as property, plant, and equipment, and purchased intangibles subject to amortization, are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. Recoverability of assets to be held and used is measured by a comparison of the carrying amount of an asset to estimated undiscounted future cash flows expected to be generated by the asset. If the carrying amount of an asset exceeds its estimated future cash flows, an impairment charge is recognized by the amount by which the carrying amount of the asset exceeds the fair value of the asset.
Fair value	Fair value: Fair value is defined as the amount that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. Financial instruments presented on the consolidated balance sheets for which the carrying value approximates fair value include: cash and cash equivalents, receivables, investments carried at fair value, payables, accrued liabilities, interest rate swaps and variable-rate long-term debt. The Company measures its interest rate swaps at fair value and recognizes such derivative instruments as either assets or liabilities on the Company’s consolidated balance sheet. Changes in the fair value of swaps are recognized in other comprehensive income, as the Company has designated these swaps as cash flow hedges for accounting purposes. The Company entered into these swaps to manage a portion of its exposure to interest rate movements by converting a portion of its variable rate long-term debt to fixed rate debt.
Asset retirement obligations	Asset retirement obligations: The Company records the fair value of an asset retirement obligation as a liability in the period in which it incurs a legal obligation associated with the retirement of tangible long-lived assets that results from acquisition, construction, development and/or normal use of the assets. The Company also records a corresponding asset, which is depreciated over the life of the tangible long-lived asset. Subsequent to the initial measurement of the asset retirement obligation, the obligation is adjusted at the end of each period to reflect the passage of time and changes in the estimated future cash flows underlying the obligation. The Company records the retirement obligation on towers owned and cell site improvements where there is a legal obligation to remove the tower or cell site improvements and restore the site to its original condition. The terms associated with its operating leases, and applicable zoning ordinances of certain jurisdictions, define the Company’s obligations which are estimated and vary based on the size of the towers. The Company’s cost to remove the tower or cell site improvements is amortized over the life of the tower or cell site assets.
Goodwill and intangible assets	Goodwill and intangible assets: In connection with the acquisition of a business, a portion of the purchase price may be allocated to identifiable intangible assets with indefinite lives, such as franchise rights, and goodwill, which is an asset representing the future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized. Goodwill is recorded in the segment that was affected by the acquisition. Goodwill is not amortized but is tested for impairment on at least an annual basis. Impairment testing is required more often than annually if an event or circumstance indicates that impairment is more likely than not to have occurred. In conducting its annual impairment testing, the Company may first perform a qualitative assessment of whether it is more likely than not that a reporting unit’s fair value is less than its carrying amount. If not, no further goodwill impairment testing is required. If it is more likely than not that a reporting unit’s fair value is less than its carrying amount, or if the Company elects not to perform a qualitative assessment of a reporting unit, the Company then compares the fair value of the reporting unit to the related net book value. If the net book value of a reporting unit exceeds its fair value, an impairment loss is measured and recognized. The Company elected not to perform the qualitative assessment and performed a quantitative test comparing the fair value with the carrying amounts and concluded that no impairment existed as of October 1, 2016. Intangible assets with indefinite lives, primarily cable franchise rights, are assessed annually, at November 1, for impairment and in interim periods if certain triggering events occur indicating that the carrying value may be impaired.
Deferred charges and other assets	Deferred charges and other assets: Deferred charges and other assets consist of derivatives used for hedging purposes and debt issuance costs related to available lines of credit and other unused funds, which are amortized on a straight-line method over the remaining draw period.
Retirement plans	Retirement plans: The Company maintains a Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (“SERP”) for selected employees. This is an unfunded defined contribution plan. The Company created and funded a rabbi trust to hold assets equal to the liabilities under this plan. Participant balances and earnings thereon continue to be maintained for this plan, but no new participants or contributions have been added to the plan since 2010. Through the Company’s acquisition of nTelos, the Company assumed nTelos’ non-contributory defined benefit pension plan (“Pension Plan”) covering all employees who met eligibility requirements and were employed by nTelos prior to October 1, 2003. The Pension Plan was closed to nTelos employees hired on or after October 1, 2003. Pension benefits vest after five years of plan service and are based on years of service and an average of the five highest consecutive years of compensation subject to certain reductions if the employee retires before reaching age 65 and elects to receive the benefit prior to age 65. Effective December 31, 2012, nTelos froze future benefit accruals. The Company uses updated mortality tables published by the Society of Actuaries that predict increasing life expectancies in the United States. IRC Sections 412 and 430 and Sections 302 and 303 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended establish minimum funding requirements for defined benefit pension plans. The minimum required contribution is generally equal to the target normal cost plus the shortfall amortization installments for the current plan year and each of the six preceding plan years less any calculated credit balance. If plan assets (less calculated credits) are equal to or exceed the funding target, the minimum required contribution is the target normal cost reduced by the excess funding, but not below zero. The Company’s policy is to make contributions to stay at or above the threshold required in order to prevent benefit restrictions and related additional notice requirements and is intended to provide not only for benefits based on service to date, but also for those expected to be earned in the future. The Company also assumed one qualified nonpension postretirement benefit plan that provides certain health care benefits for nTelos retired employees that meet eligibility requirements. The health care plan is contributory, with participants’ contributions adjusted annually. This plan is not available to employees hired after April 1993. The accounting for the plan anticipates that the Company will maintain a consistent level of cost sharing for the benefits with the retirees. The Company’s share of the projected cost of benefits that will be paid after retirement is generally being accrued by charges to expense over the eligible employees’ service periods to the dates they are fully eligible for benefits. The Company records annual amounts relating to the Pension Plan and postretirement benefit plan based on calculations that incorporate various actuarial and other assumptions, including discount rates, mortality, assumed rates of return, turnover rates and healthcare cost trend rates. The Company reviews its assumptions on an annual basis and makes modifications to the assumptions based on current rates and trends when it is appropriate to do so. We recognize gains and losses on pension and postretirement plan assets and obligations immediately in our operating results. These gains and losses are measured annually at December 31 and accordingly are recorded during the fourth quarter, unless earlier re-measurements are required. The Company maintains a defined contribution 401(k) plan under which substantially all employees may defer a portion of their earnings on a pretax basis, up to the allowable federal maximum annual contribution amount. The Company may make matching and discretionary contributions to this plan. The Company acquired nTelos' defined contribution 401(k) plan at the time of the acquisition. The nTelos plan was merged into the Company's plan as of December 31, 2016. None of these plans directly hold Company common stock in their investment portfolios.
Income taxes	Income taxes: Income taxes are accounted for under the asset and liability method. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date. The Company evaluates the recoverability of tax assets generated on a state-by-state basis from net operating losses apportioned to that state. Management uses a more likely than not threshold to make that determination and has concluded that at December 31, 2016 and 2015, a valuation allowance against certain state deferred tax assets is necessary, as discussed in Note 6. The Company recognizes the effect of income tax positions only if those positions are more likely than not of being sustained. Recognized income tax positions are measured at the largest amount that is greater than 50% likely of being realized. Changes in recognition or measurement are reflected in the period in which the change in judgment occurs. The Company’s policy is to record interest related to unrecognized tax benefits in interest expense and penalties in selling, general, and administrative expenses.
Revenue recognition	Revenue recognition: The Company recognizes revenue when persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, services have been rendered or products have been delivered, the price to the buyer is fixed and determinable and collectability is reasonably assured. Revenues are recognized by the Company based on the various types of transactions generating the revenue. For services, revenue is recognized as the services are performed. For equipment sales, revenue is recognized when the sales transaction is complete. Under the Sprint Management Agreement, postpaid wireless service revenues are reported net of an 8% Management Fee and an 8.6% Net Service Fee, retained by Sprint. Prepaid wireless service revenues are reported net of a 6% Management Fee retained by Sprint. Under the Company’s amended affiliate agreement, Sprint agreed to waive the management fee, which is historically presented as a contra-revenue by the Company, for a period of approximately six years. The impact of Sprint’s waiver of the management fee over the approximate six-year period is reflected as an increase in revenue, offset by the non-cash adjustment to recognize this impact on a straight-line basis over the contract term of approximately 14 years.
Earnings per share	Earnings per share: Basic net income(loss) per share was computed on the weighted average number of shares outstanding. Diluted net income per share was computed under the treasury stock method, assuming the conversion as of the beginning of the period, for all dilutive stock options. There were no adjustments to net income in the computation of diluted earnings per share for any of the years presented.
Contingencies	Contingencies: The Company is involved in various claims and legal actions arising in the ordinary course of business. In the opinion of management, the ultimate disposition of these matters will not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s consolidated financial position, results of operations, or liquidity.
Adoption of New Accounting Principles	Adoption of New Accounting Principles During 2016, the Company adopted four recent accounting principles: Accounting Standards Update 2015-3, “Interest – Imputation of Interest” (ASU 2015-3), ASU 2015-17, “Balance Sheet Classification of Deferred Taxes”, ASU 2016-9, “Improvements to Employee Share-based Payment Accounting,” and ASU 2015-16, “Simplifying the Accounting for Measurement-Period Adjustments.” ASU 2015-3 requires that premiums, discounts, and loan fees and costs associated with long term debt be reflected as a reduction of the outstanding debt balance. Previous guidance had treated such loan fees and costs as a deferred charge on the balance sheet. As a result of implementing ASU 2015-3, the Company reclassified $1.6 million of unamortized loan fees and costs included in deferred charges and other assets as of December 31, 2015 to long-term debt. Approximately $0.5 million was allocated to current maturities of long-term debt, and $1.1 million to long term debt. Total assets, as well as total liabilities and shareholders’ equity, were also reduced by the same $1.6 million. In addition, the Company reclassified $4.3 million of unamortized loan fees and costs included in deferred charges and other assets to long term debt in connection with the new Term loan A-1 and A-2 borrowing related to the acquisition of nTelos. Total assets, as well as total liabilities and shareholders’ equity, were also reduced by the same $4.3 million. There was no impact on the statements of income or cash flows. ASU 2015-17 simplifies accounting for deferred taxes by eliminating the requirement to present deferred tax assets and liabilities as current and non-current in a classified balance sheet. Due to the immaterial balance of current deferred tax assets ($0.9 million as of December 31, 2015), the Company has elected to apply this guidance prospectively, and thus prior periods have not been retrospectively adjusted. ASU 2016-9 simplifies certain provisions related to the accounting for the tax effects of stock-based compensation transactions. In particular for the Company, it eliminates the requirement to determine for each award whether the difference between book compensation and tax compensation results in an excess tax benefit or a tax deficiency, which generally speaking, result in an entry to additional paid-in-capital. Under the new guidance, all tax effects for exercised or vested awards are recognized as discrete items in income tax expense, and the Company recognized $1.7 million of tax benefits through income tax expense in 2016. The new guidance also allows an employer to withhold shares to cover more than the minimum statutory withholding taxes (but not more than the maximum statutory withholding requirements) without causing an equity-classified award to become a liability classified award. The other provisions of the new guidance are either not applicable or have no significant impact on the Company’s accounting for stock-based compensation transactions. The Company has elected to early adopt the new guidance and apply it prospectively to tax effects on share-based compensation transactions. ASU 2015-16 requires that an acquirer recognize adjustments to provisional amounts that are identified during the measurement period in the reporting period in which the adjustment amounts are determined. See Note 16 for adjustments recorded during 2016.

Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Changes in Allowance for Doubtful Accounts for Trade Accounts Receivable

Changes in the allowance for doubtful accounts for trade accounts receivable for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014 are summarized below (in thousands):



	2016			2015			2014

Balance at beginning of year	$	418		$	762		$	924
Bad debt expense	2,456			1,640			1,678
Losses charged to allowance	(2,743		)	(2,586		)	(2,218		)
Recoveries added to allowance	628			602			378
Balance at end of year	$	759		$	418		$	762

Changes in Liability for Asset Removal Obligations

Changes in the liability for asset removal obligations for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014 are summarized below (in thousands):



	2016			2015			2014

Balance at beginning of year	$	7,266		$	6,928		$	6,485
Liabilities acquired in acquisition	14,056			—			—
Additional liabilities accrued	157			490			403
Changes to prior estimates	—			(467		)	—
Payments made	(609		)	(77		)	(334		)
Accretion expense	637			392			374
Balance at end of year	$	21,507		$	7,266		$	6,928

Schedule of Goodwill

Changes in the carrying amount of goodwill during the year ended December 31, 2016 are shown below (in thousands):



Goodwill as of December 31, 2015, Wireline segment	$	10
Goodwill recorded January 2016, Cable segment, Colane acquisition	104
Goodwill recorded May 2016, Wireless segment, nTelos acquisition	145,142
Goodwill as of December 31, 2016	$	145,256

Intangible Assets, Non-amortizing Intangibles

Intangible assets consist of the following at December 31, 2016 and 2015 (in thousands):



	2016							2015
	Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization			Net		Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization			Net
Non-amortizing intangibles:
Cable franchise rights	$	64,334	$	—		$	64,334	$	64,059	$	—		$	64,059
Railroad crossing rights	97		—			97		39		—			39
	64,431		—			64,431		64,098		—			64,098

Finite-lived intangibles:
Affiliate contract expansion	284,102		(14,030		)	270,072		—		—			—
Acquired subscribers – wireless	120,855		(18,738		)	102,117		—		—			—
Favorable leases - wireless	16,950		(1,130		)	15,820		—		—			—
Acquired subscribers – cable	25,265		(24,631		)	634		25,326		(23,805		)	1,521
Other intangibles	2,212		(754		)	1,458		1,938		(564		)	1,374
Total finite-lived intangibles	449,384		(59,283		)	390,101		27,264		(24,369		)	2,895
Total intangible assets	$	513,815	$	(59,283	)	$	454,532	$	91,362	$	(24,369	)	$	66,993

Intangible Assets, Finite-lived Intangibles

Intangible assets consist of the following at December 31, 2016 and 2015 (in thousands):



	2016							2015
	Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization			Net		Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization			Net
Non-amortizing intangibles:
Cable franchise rights	$	64,334	$	—		$	64,334	$	64,059	$	—		$	64,059
Railroad crossing rights	97		—			97		39		—			39
	64,431		—			64,431		64,098		—			64,098

Finite-lived intangibles:
Affiliate contract expansion	284,102		(14,030		)	270,072		—		—			—
Acquired subscribers – wireless	120,855		(18,738		)	102,117		—		—			—
Favorable leases - wireless	16,950		(1,130		)	15,820		—		—			—
Acquired subscribers – cable	25,265		(24,631		)	634		25,326		(23,805		)	1,521
Other intangibles	2,212		(754		)	1,458		1,938		(564		)	1,374
Total finite-lived intangibles	449,384		(59,283		)	390,101		27,264		(24,369		)	2,895
Total intangible assets	$	513,815	$	(59,283	)	$	454,532	$	91,362	$	(24,369	)	$	66,993

Intangible assets resulting from the acquisition of nTelos and the Sprint exchange, both described above, are noted below (dollars in thousands):



	Useful Life	Basis
Affiliate contract agreement	14 years	$	284,100
Customer based contract rights	4-10 years	120,855
Favorable lease intangible assets	3-19 years	17,029

Amortization Expense for Intangible Assets

Aggregate amortization expense, including amortization recorded as a contra revenue, for intangible assets for the periods shown is expected to be as follows:



Year Ending December 31,	Total		Amount Reflected as Contra Revenue		Amount Reflected as Rent Expense		Amount Reflected as Amortization Expense
	(in thousands)
2017	$	46,807	$	21,045	$	1,695	$	24,067
2018	40,797		21,044		1,695		18,058
2019	36,561		21,045		1,695		13,821
2020	33,685		21,044		1,695		10,946
2021	30,923		21,045		1,695		8,183
thereafter	201,328		164,849		7,345		29,134
Total	$	390,101	$	270,072	$	15,820	$	104,209

Computation of Basic and Diluted Earnings per Share

The following tables show the computation of basic and diluted earnings per share for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014:



	2016			2015			2014

Basic income (loss) per share	(in thousands, except per share amounts)
Net income (loss)	$	(895	)	$	40,864		$	33,883
Weighted average shares outstanding	48,807			48,388			48,198
Basic income (loss) per share	$	(0.02	)	$	0.84		$	0.70

Effect of stock options outstanding:
Weighted average shares outstanding	48,807			48,388			48,198
Assumed exercise, at the strike price at the beginning of year	—			1,302			1,410
Assumed repurchase of shares under treasury stock method	—			(666		)	(888		)
Diluted weighted average shares	48,807			49,024			48,720
Diluted income (loss) per share	$	(0.02	)	$	0.83		$	0.70

Investments (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Investments [Abstract]

Investments Carried at Fair Value

At December 31, 2016 and 2015, investments carried at fair value consisted of:



	2016		2015
	(in thousands)
Taxable bond funds	$	24	$	24
Domestic equity funds	2,787		2,564
International equity funds	96		66
	$	2,907	$	2,654

Other Investments

At December 31, 2016 and 2015, other investments, comprised of equity securities which do not have readily determinable fair values, consist of the following:



	2016		2015
Cost method:	(in thousands)
CoBank	$	6,177	$	4,137
Other – Equity in other telecommunications partners	742		760
	6,919		4,897
Equity method:
Private equity limited partnerships	—		2,624
Other	450		504
	450		3,128
Total other investments	$	7,369	$	8,025

Property, Plant and Equipment (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Property, Plant and Equipment

Property, plant and equipment consisted of the following at December 31, 2016 and 2015:



	Estimated Useful Lives	2016		2015
		(in thousands)
Land		$	13,057	$	4,181
Buildings and structures	10 – 40 years	115,960		108,341
Cable and wire	4 – 40 years	235,471		214,721
Equipment and software	2 – 16.7 years	720,830		391,260
Plant in service		1,085,318		718,503
Plant under construction		73,759		36,600
Total property, plant and equipment		1,159,077		755,103
Less accumulated amortization and depreciation		460,955		345,085
Property, plant and equipment, net		$	698,122	$	410,018

Long-Term Debt and Revolving Lines of Credit (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Debt Disclosure [Abstract]

Long-term Debt

Total debt consists of the following:



(In thousands)	2016		2015
Term loan A	$	—	$	201,250
Term loan A-1	472,875		—
Term loan A-2	375,000		—
	847,875		201,250
Less: unamortized loan fees	18,610		1,589
Total debt, net of unamortized loan fees	$	829,265	$	199,661

Current maturities of long term debt, net of unamortized loan fees	$	32,041	$	22,492
Long-term debt, less current maturities, net of unamortized loan fees	$	797,224	$	177,169

Financial Covenants in Credit Agreements

As shown below, as of December 31, 2016, the Company was in compliance with the financial covenants in its credit agreements.



	Actual		Covenant Requirement
Total Leverage Ratio	2.81	%	3.75 or Lower
Debt Service Coverage Ratio	4.23	%	2.00 or Higher
Minimum Liquidity Balance	$136 million		$25 million or Higher

Maturities of Long-term Debt

Future maturities of long-term debt principal are as follows (in thousands):



2017	$	36,375
2018	68,500
2019	88,500
2020	100,625
2021	318,875
2022 and beyond	235,000
Total	$	847,875

- Definition

Tabular disclosure of long-debt instruments or arrangements, including identification, terms, features, collateral requirements and other information necessary to a fair presentation. These are debt arrangements that originally required repayment more than twelve months after issuance or greater than the normal operating cycle of the entity, if longer.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.22)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 505
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6928386&loc=d3e21475-112644

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 470
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6479336&loc=d3e64711-112823

Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 235
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.4-08.(e),(f))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26873400&loc=d3e23780-122690

Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 835
-SubTopic 30
-Section 55
-Paragraph 8
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64930739&loc=d3e28878-108400

Reference 6: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 505
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 8
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6928386&loc=d3e21538-112644

Reference 7: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 505
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 6
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6928386&loc=d3e21506-112644

Reference 8: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 835
-SubTopic 30
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1A
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64930785&loc=d3e28541-108399

Reference 9: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 835
-SubTopic 30
-Section 45
-Paragraph 2
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64930785&loc=d3e28551-108399

Reference 10: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 505
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 7
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6928386&loc=d3e21521-112644

+ Details

Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Allocation of Income Tax Expense

Total income taxes for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014 were allocated as follows:



	2016		2015			2014
	(in thousands)
Income tax expense on continuing operations	$	2,840	$	27,726		$	22,151
Shareholders’ equity, for compensation expense for tax purposes in excess of amounts recognized for financial reporting purposes	—		(679		)	(395		)
Other comprehensive income for changes in cash flow hedge	4,162		(476		)	(993		)
	$	7,002	$	26,571		$	20,763

Components of Federal and State Income Taxes

The provision for the federal and state income taxes attributable to income from continuing operations consists of the following components:



	Years Ended December 31,
	2016			2015			2014
	(in thousands)
Current expense
Federal taxes	$	44,779		$	23,579		$	16,592
State taxes	10,936			5,275			2,562
Total current provision	55,715			28,854			19,154
Deferred expense (benefit)
Federal taxes	(47,056		)	(744		)	1,636
State taxes	(5,819		)	(384		)	1,361
Total deferred provision	(52,875		)	(1,128		)	2,997
Income tax expense on continuing operations	$	2,840		$	27,726		$	22,151
Effective tax rate	146.0		%	40.4		%	39.5		%

Reconciliation of Income Taxes

A reconciliation of income taxes determined by applying the federal and state tax rates to income from continuing operations is as follows for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014:



	Years Ended December 31,
	2016			2015		2014
	(in thousands)
Computed “expected” tax expense (35%)	$	681		$	24,007	$	19,612
State income taxes, net of federal tax effect	6			3,179		2,550
Changes in state DTL for mergers	3,320			$	—	—
Excess share based compensation	(1,709		)	—		—
Nondeductible merger expenses	801			$	—	—
Other, net	(259		)	540		(11		)
Income tax expense on continuing operations	$	2,840		$	27,726	$	22,151

Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities

Net deferred tax assets and liabilities consist of the following temporary differences at December 31, 2016 and 2015:



	2016			2015
	(in thousands)
Deferred tax assets:
Deferred revenues	$	8,849		$	2,367
Net operating loss carry-forwards	29,472			717
Accruals and reserves	10,517			5,658
Pension benefits	6,994			1,023
Asset retirement obligations	8,495			2,922
Intangible assets	—			325
Total gross deferred tax assets	64,327			13,012
Less valuation allowance	(709		)	(709		)
Net deferred tax assets	63,618			12,303

Deferred tax liabilities:
Plant-in-service	139,753			85,503
Intangibles	70,799			—
Interest rate swaps	4,433			271
Other, net	470			490
Total gross deferred tax liabilities	215,455			86,264
Net deferred tax liabilities	$	151,837		$	73,961

Retirement Plans Retirement Plans (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]

Projected Benefit Obligations

The following tables provide the benefit obligations, fair value of assets and a statement of the funded status since the acquisition date (in thousands):



	Defined Benefit Pension Plan			Other Postretirement Benefit Plans
Benefit obligations, at acquisition	$	37,443		$	4,298
Service cost	—			18
Interest cost	956			108
Benefits paid	(340		)	—
Actuarial gain	(3,703		)	(174		)
Benefit obligations as of December 31, 2016	$	34,356		$	4,250

Fair Value of Plan Assets, and Funded Status of Plan



	Defined Benefit Pension Plan			Other Postretirement Benefit Plans
Plan assets, at acquisition	$	22,813		$	—
Actual return on Plan assets	1,722			—
Benefits paid	(340		)	—
Plan expenses	(121		)	—
Plan assets as of December 31, 2016	$	24,074		$	—

Funded status: Net liability as of December 31, 2016	$	(10,282	)	$	(4,250	)

Components of Net Benefit Costs (Income)

The following table provides the components of net periodic pension (benefit) cost for the plans for the period from acquisition date to December 31, 2016 (in thousands):



	Defined Benefit Pension Plan			Other Postretirement Benefit Plans
Components of net periodic pension (benefit) cost:
Service cost	$	—		$	18
Interest cost	956			108
Expected return on plan assets	(1,018		)	—
Actuarial gains	(4,286		)	(174		)

Net periodic (benefit) cost	$	(4,348	)	$	(48	)

Assumptions Used to Determine Net Periodic Cost and Benefit Obligations

The assumptions used in the measurements of the Company’s benefit obligations at December 31, 2016 for the plans are shown in the following table:



	Defined Benefit Pension Plan		Other Postretirement Benefit Plans
Discount rate	4.15	%	4.11	%
Expected return on plan assets	6.75	%	—	%

Actual and Target Allocation for Plan Assets

The actual and target allocation for plan assets is broadly defined and measured as follows:



Asset Category	Actual Allocation		Target Allocation
Equity securities	76	%	65-75
Bond securities and cash equivalents	24	%	25-35
Total	100	%	100	%

Expected Future Pension Benefit Payments and Other Postretirement Benefit Plan Payments



	Defined Benefit Pension Plan		Other Postretirement Benefit Plans
2017	$	684	$	187
2018	703		156
2019	752		160
2020	821		155
2021	924		170
Aggregate of next five years	6,409		925

Accrued and Other Liabilities (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Other Liabilities Disclosure [Abstract]

Summary of Accrued Liabilities and Other

Accrued liabilities and other include the following (in thousands):



	December 31, 2016		December 31, 2015
Sales and property taxes payable	$	6,628	$	1,055
Severance accrual, current portion	4,267		—
Asset retirement obligations, current portion	5,841		—
Other current liabilities	12,349		6,584
Accrued liabilities and other	$	29,085	$	7,639

Summary of Other Liabilities

Other liabilities include the following (in thousands):



	December 31, 2016		December 31, 2015
Non-current portion of deferred revenues	$	8,933	$	4,156
Straight-line management fee waiver	11,974		—
Other	2,836		2,229
Other liabilities	$	23,743	$	6,385

Stock Incentive Plans (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]

Summary of Outstanding Options

A summary of outstanding options at December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, and changes during the years ended on those dates, is as follows:



	Number of Options		Weighted Average Grant Price Per Option

Outstanding December 31, 2013	1,101,014		$	8.35

Granted	—		—
Cancelled	(2,146	)	12.63
Exercised	(101,516	)	11.21
Outstanding December 31, 2014	997,352		$	8.05

Granted	—		—
Cancelled	(6,252	)	12.63
Exercised	(86,942	)	11.46
Outstanding December 31, 2015	904,158		$	7.70

Granted	—
Cancelled	(8,126	)	12.63
Exercised	(371,390	)	9.04
Outstanding December 31, 2016	524,642		$	6.67

Share Grant Activity

A summary of outstanding share grants at December 31, 2016, 2015, and 2014, and changes during the years ended on those dates, is as follows:



	Shares

Outstanding December 31, 2013	426,180

Granted	181,530
Cancelled	(10,764	)
Vested and issued	(161,674	)
Outstanding December 31, 2014	435,272

Granted	190,258
Cancelled	(6,736	)
Vested and issued	(211,498	)
Outstanding December 31, 2015	407,296

Granted	172,520
Cancelled	(3,537	)
Vested and issued	(190,254	)
Outstanding December 31, 2016	386,025

Non Vested Shares [Member]

Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]

Stock Options Valuation Assumptions

The following assumptions were utilized in the valuations:



	2015	2016
Stock price (closing price on issue date)	$15.01	$21.70
Risk-free interest rate (interpolated rate between 2-year and 3-year U.S. treasury rates)	0.95%	0.89%
Dividend yield	1.57%	1.11%
Performance period	2.87 years	2.87 years

Lease Commitments (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Leases [Abstract]

Future Minimum Lease Payments



Year Ending	Amount
	(in thousands)
2017	$	49,006
2018	48,557
2019	47,777
2020	46,908
2021	46,700
2022 and beyond	241,840
	$	480,788

Future Minimum Payments Receivable

The total minimum rental receipts at December 31, 2016 are as follows:



Year Ending	Amount
	(in thousands)
2017	$	6,044
2018	5,724
2019	5,435
2020	4,753
2021	2,708
2022 and beyond	3,011
	$	27,675

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Abstract]

Schedule of Derivative Financial Instruments as well as its Classification on the Consolidated Balance Sheet



		Fair Value as of
	Balance Sheet Location	December 31, 2016			December 31, 2015
Derivatives designated as hedging instruments:
Interest rate swaps
	Accrued liabilities and other	$	(895	)	$	(682	)
	Deferred charges and other assets, net	12,118			1,370

Total derivatives designated as hedging instruments		$	11,223		$	688

Schedule of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss)

The table below presents changes in accumulated other comprehensive income by component for the twelve months ended December 31, 2016 (in thousands):



	Gains on Cash Flow Hedges		Income Tax (Expense) Benefit			Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income
Balance as of December 31, 2015	$	688	$	(273	)	$	415
Other comprehensive income before reclassifications	8,370		(3,306		)	5,064
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income (to interest expense)	2,165		(856		)	1,309
Net current period other comprehensive income (loss)	10,535		(4,162		)	6,373
Balance as of December 31, 2016	$	11,223	$	(4,435	)	$	6,788

Acquisition of NTELOS Holdings Corp. and Exchange with Sprint (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Business Combinations [Abstract]

Schedule of Preliminary Purchase Price Allocation and Revisions Recorded

The following table shows the initial estimate of value and changes recorded through December 31, 2016 (in thousands):



	Initial Estimate		Revisions			Revised Estimate
Accounts receivable	$	48,476	$	(2,788	)	$	45,688
Inventory	3,810		762			4,572
Restricted cash	2,167		—			2,167
Investments	1,501		—			1,501
Prepaid expenses and other assets	14,835		—			14,835
Building held for sale	4,950		—			4,950
Property, plant and equipment	223,900		4,376			228,276
Spectrum licenses	198,200		—			198,200
Customer based contract rights	198,200		8,546			206,746
Favorable lease intangible assets	11,000		6,029			17,029
Goodwill	151,627		(6,485		)	145,142
Other long term assets	10,288		555			10,843
Total assets acquired	$	868,954	$	10,995		$	879,949

Accounts payable	$	8,648	$	(105	)	$	8,543
Advanced billings and customer deposits	12,477		—			12,477
Accrued expenses	25,230		(345		)	24,885
Capital lease liability	418		—			418
Deferred tax liabilities	124,964		1,625			126,589
Retirement benefits	19,461		(263		)	19,198
Other long-term liabilities	14,056		6,029			20,085
Total liabilities assumed	205,254		6,941			212,195

Net assets acquired	$	663,700	$	4,054		$	667,754

Intangible Assets Resulting from Acquisition

Intangible assets consist of the following at December 31, 2016 and 2015 (in thousands):



	2016							2015
	Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization			Net		Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization			Net
Non-amortizing intangibles:
Cable franchise rights	$	64,334	$	—		$	64,334	$	64,059	$	—		$	64,059
Railroad crossing rights	97		—			97		39		—			39
	64,431		—			64,431		64,098		—			64,098

Finite-lived intangibles:
Affiliate contract expansion	284,102		(14,030		)	270,072		—		—			—
Acquired subscribers – wireless	120,855		(18,738		)	102,117		—		—			—
Favorable leases - wireless	16,950		(1,130		)	15,820		—		—			—
Acquired subscribers – cable	25,265		(24,631		)	634		25,326		(23,805		)	1,521
Other intangibles	2,212		(754		)	1,458		1,938		(564		)	1,374
Total finite-lived intangibles	449,384		(59,283		)	390,101		27,264		(24,369		)	2,895
Total intangible assets	$	513,815	$	(59,283	)	$	454,532	$	91,362	$	(24,369	)	$	66,993

Intangible assets resulting from the acquisition of nTelos and the Sprint exchange, both described above, are noted below (dollars in thousands):



	Useful Life	Basis
Affiliate contract agreement	14 years	$	284,100
Customer based contract rights	4-10 years	120,855
Favorable lease intangible assets	3-19 years	17,029

Unaudited Pro Forma Results



	Years Ended December 31,
	2016		2015
Operating revenues	$	646,769	$	678,475
Income before income taxes	$	2,989	$	54,716

Segment Reporting (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Selected Financial Data for Segments

Year ended December 31, 2016

(In thousands)



	Wireless		Cable		Wireline		Other			Eliminations			Consolidated Totals
External revenues
Service revenues	$	359,769	$	99,070	$	19,646	—			—			$	478,485
Other revenues	24,364		7,927		24,512		—			—			56,803
Total external revenues	384,133		106,997		44,158		—			—			535,288
Internal revenues	4,620		1,737		30,816		—			(37,173		)	—
Total operating revenues	388,753		108,734		74,974		—			(37,173		)	535,288

Operating expenses
Costs of goods and services, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below	133,113		58,581		36,259		—			(34,433		)	193,520
Selling, general and administrative, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown below	95,851		19,248		6,474		14,492			(2,740		)	133,325
Integration and acquisition expenses	25,927		—		—		16,305			—			42,232
Depreciation and amortization	107,621		23,908		11,717		439			—			143,685
Total operating expenses	362,512		101,737		54,450		31,236			(37,173		)	512,762
Operating income (loss)	$	26,241	$	6,997	$	20,524	$	(31,236	)	$	—		$	22,526

Year ended December 31, 2015

(In thousands)



	Wireless		Cable		Wireline		Other			Eliminations			Consolidated Totals
External revenues
Service revenues	$	192,752	$	88,980	$	19,386	—			—			$	301,118
Other revenues	11,609		7,793		21,965		—			—			41,367
Total external revenues	204,361		96,773		41,351		—			—			342,485
Internal revenues	4,440		849		26,069		—			(31,358		)	—
Total operating revenues	208,801		97,622		67,420		—			(31,358		)	342,485

Operating expenses
Costs of goods and services, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below	63,570		54,611		31,668		—			(28,519		)	121,330
Selling, general and administrative, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown below	35,792		19,412		6,612		13,844			(2,839		)	72,821
Integration and acquisition expenses	—		—		—		3,546			—			3,546
Depreciation and amortization	34,416		23,097		12,736		453			—			70,702
Total operating expenses	133,778		97,120		51,016		17,843			(31,358		)	268,399
Operating income (loss)	$	75,023	$	502	$	16,404	$	(17,843	)	$	—		$	74,086

Year ended December 31, 2014

(In thousands)



	Wireless		Cable			Wireline		Other			Eliminations			Consolidated Totals
External revenues
Service revenues	$	191,147	$	77,179		$	18,919	—			—			$	287,245
Other revenues	11,867		7,224			20,610		—			—			39,701
Total external revenues	203,014		84,403			39,529		—			—			326,946
Internal revenues	4,440		150			23,506		—			(28,096		)	—
Total operating revenues	207,454		84,553			63,035		—			(28,096		)	326,946

Operating expenses
Costs of goods and services, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below	73,290		51,982			30,088		—			(25,617		)	129,743
Selling, general and administrative, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown below	33,171		19,521			6,009		13,148			(2,479		)	69,370
Depreciation and amortization	31,111		23,148			11,224		407			—			65,890
Total operating expenses	137,572		94,651			47,321		13,555			(28,096		)	265,003
Operating income (loss)	$	69,882	$	(10,098	)	$	15,714	$	(13,555	)	$	—		$	61,943

Reconciliation of Operating Profit (Loss) from Segments to Consolidated

A reconciliation of the total of the reportable segments’ operating income to consolidated income from continuing operations before income taxes is as follows:



	Years Ended December 31,
(In thousands)	2016			2015			2014
Total consolidated operating income	$	22,526		$	74,086		$	61,943
Interest expense	(25,102		)	(7,355		)	(8,148		)
Non-operating income, net	4,521			1,859			2,239
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	$	1,945		$	68,590		$	56,034

Assets by Segment

The Company’s assets by segment are as follows:

(In thousands)



	December 31, 2016			December 31, 2015
Wireless	$	1,101,716		$	205,718
Cable	218,471			209,132
Wireline	115,282			105,369
Other	1,059,898			463,390
Combined totals	2,495,367			983,609
Inter-segment eliminations	(1,010,960		)	(356,458		)
Consolidated totals	$	1,484,407		$	627,151

Quarterly Results (unaudited) (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Quarterly Financial Information Disclosure [Abstract]

Schedule of Quarterly Financial Information

The following table shows selected quarterly results for the Company.

(in thousands except per share data)



For the year ended December 31, 2016	First		Second			Third			Fourth			Total
Operating revenues	$	92,571	$	130,309		$	156,836		$	155,572		$	535,288
Operating income (loss)	21,312		(7,046		)	(3,929		)	12,189			22,526
Net income (loss)	13,880		(6,995		)	(7,596		)	(184		)	(895		)

Net income (loss) per share – basic	0.29		(0.14		)	(0.16		)	0.00			(0.02		)
Net income (loss) per share – diluted	0.28		(0.14		)	(0.16		)	0.00			(0.02		)

For the year ended December 31, 2015	First		Second			Third			Fourth			Total
Operating revenues	$	84,287	$	85,701		$	85,212		$	87,285		$	342,485
Operating income	18,526		18,750			15,089			21,721			74,086
Net income	10,286		10,474			7,996			12,108			40,864

Net income per share - basic	0.21		0.22			0.17			0.24			0.84
Net income per share - diluted	0.21		0.21			0.17			0.24			0.83

Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Narrative (Details) shares in Thousands		12 Months Ended
	Oct. 01, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) state shares	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($) shares	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($) shares	Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($)	May 06, 2016 USD ($)
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Non Sprint operations, number of states \| state		4
Cash equivalents			$ 40,100,000
Goodwill impairment	$ 0
Asset retirement obligations, current portion			0		$ 5,841,000
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Carrying value		$ 64,431,000	64,098,000
Amortization expense		$ 34,900,000	$ 1,400,000	$ 2,600,000
Management fee		8.00%
Net service fee		8.60%
Management fee retained		6.00%
Period for sprint's waiver of the management fee		6 years
Contract term		14 years
Stock options outstanding (in shares) \| shares		911	1,312	1,394
Antidilutive shares and options excluded from computation of earnings per share (in shares) \| shares			92	22
Deferred income taxes		$ 0	$ 907,000
Excess tax benefits recognized as discrete items		1,709,000	0	$ 0
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member]
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Unamortized loan fees and costs reclassification						$ 23,000,000
Accounting Standards Update 2015-03 [Member] \| Assets [Member]
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Unamortized loan fees and costs reclassification			(1,600,000)
Accounting Standards Update 2015-03 [Member] \| Assets [Member] \| Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member]
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Unamortized loan fees and costs reclassification			(4,300,000)
Accounting Standards Update 2015-03 [Member] \| Other Assets [Member]
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Unamortized loan fees and costs reclassification			(1,600,000)
Accounting Standards Update 2015-03 [Member] \| Other Assets [Member] \| Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member]
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Unamortized loan fees and costs reclassification			(4,300,000)
Accounting Standards Update 2015-03 [Member] \| Liabilities and Equity [Member]
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Unamortized loan fees and costs reclassification			1,600,000
Accounting Standards Update 2015-03 [Member] \| Liabilities and Equity [Member] \| Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member]
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Unamortized loan fees and costs reclassification			4,300,000
Accounting Standards Update 2015-03 [Member] \| Long-term Debt, Current Maturities [Member]
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Unamortized loan fees and costs reclassification			500,000
Accounting Standards Update 2015-03 [Member] \| Long-term Debt [Member]
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Unamortized loan fees and costs reclassification			1,100,000
Accounting Standards Update 2015-03 [Member] \| Long-term Debt [Member] \| Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member]
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Unamortized loan fees and costs reclassification			4,300,000
Cable Franchise Rights [Member]
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Impairment of intangible assets		0	0	$ 0
Carrying value		64,334,000	64,059,000
Fair value amount exceeding the carrying amount		$ 28,200,000	$ 11,300,000

Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Changes in Allowance for Doubtful Accounts for Trade Accounts Receivable (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Allowance for Doubtful Accounts Receivable [Roll Forward]
Balance at beginning of year	$ 418	$ 762	$ 924
Bad debt expense	2,456	1,640	1,678
Losses charged to allowance	(2,743)	(2,586)	(2,218)
Recoveries added to allowance	628	602	378
Balance at end of year	$ 759	$ 418	$ 762

Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Changes in Liability for Asset Removal Obligations (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Asset Retirement Obligation, Roll Forward Analysis [Roll Forward]
Balance at beginning of year	$ 7,266	$ 6,928	$ 6,485
Liabilities acquired in acquisition	14,056	0	0
Additional liabilities accrued	157	490	403
Changes to prior estimates	0	(467)	0
Payments made	(609)	(77)	(334)
Accretion expense	637	392	374
Balance at end of year	$ 21,507	$ 7,266	$ 6,928

Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Changes in the Carrying Amount of Goodwill (Details) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	$ 10
Ending balance	145,256
Wireless [Member]
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	10
Colane acquisition [Member] \| Cable [Member]
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Acquired	104
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member]
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Ending balance	145,142
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Wireless [Member]
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Acquired	$ 145,142

Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Intangible Assets (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	$ 449,384	$ 27,264
Accumulated Amortization	(59,283)	(24,369)
Net	390,101	2,895
Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets (Excluding Goodwill) [Abstract]
Gross Carrying Amount	64,431	64,098
Total intangibles, gross carrying amount	513,815	91,362
Total intangibles	454,532	66,993
Cable Franchise Rights [Member]
Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets (Excluding Goodwill) [Abstract]
Gross Carrying Amount	64,334	64,059
Railroad Crossing Rights [Member]
Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets (Excluding Goodwill) [Abstract]
Gross Carrying Amount	97	39
Business Contracts [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	284,102	0
Accumulated Amortization	(14,030)	0
Net	270,072	0
Acquired subscribers wireless [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	120,855	0
Accumulated Amortization	(18,738)	0
Net	102,117	0
Favorable leases - wireless [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	16,950	0
Accumulated Amortization	(1,130)	0
Net	15,820	0
Acquired subscribers cable [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	25,265	25,326
Accumulated Amortization	(24,631)	(23,805)
Net	634	1,521
Other Intangibles [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	2,212	1,938
Accumulated Amortization	(754)	(564)
Net	$ 1,458	$ 1,374

Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Amortization Expense for Intangible Assets (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets, Amortization Expense, Maturity Schedule [Abstract]
2017	$ 46,807
2018	40,797
2019	36,561
2020	33,685
2021	30,923
thereafter	201,328
Net	390,101	$ 2,895
Contra Revenue [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets, Amortization Expense, Maturity Schedule [Abstract]
2017	21,045
2018	21,044
2019	21,045
2020	21,044
2021	21,045
thereafter	164,849
Net	270,072
Rent Expense [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets, Amortization Expense, Maturity Schedule [Abstract]
2017	1,695
2018	1,695
2019	1,695
2020	1,695
2021	1,695
thereafter	7,345
Net	15,820
Amortization [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets, Amortization Expense, Maturity Schedule [Abstract]
2017	24,067
2018	18,058
2019	13,821
2020	10,946
2021	8,183
thereafter	29,134
Net	$ 104,209

Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Computation of Basic and Diluted Earnings per Share (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Sep. 30, 2016	Jun. 30, 2016	Mar. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Sep. 30, 2015	Jun. 30, 2015	Mar. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Earnings Per Share [Abstract]
Net income (loss)	$ (184)	$ (7,596)	$ (6,995)	$ 13,880	$ 12,108	$ 7,996	$ 10,474	$ 10,286	$ (895)	$ 40,864	$ 33,883
Weighted average shares outstanding, basic (in shares)									48,807	48,388	48,198
Basic income (loss) per share (in dollars per share)	$ 0.00	$ (0.16)	$ (0.14)	$ 0.29	$ 0.24	$ 0.17	$ 0.22	$ 0.21	$ (0.02)	$ 0.84	$ 0.70
Effect of stock options outstanding:
Weighted average shares outstanding, basic (in shares)									48,807	48,388	48,198
Assumed exercise, at the strike price at the beginning of year (in shares)									0	1,302	1,410
Assumed repurchase of shares under treasury stock method (in shares)									0	(666)	(888)
Diluted weighted average shares (in shares)									48,807	49,024	48,720
Diluted income (loss) per share (in dollars per share)	$ 0.00	$ (0.16)	$ (0.14)	$ 0.28	$ 0.24	$ 0.17	$ 0.21	$ 0.21	$ (0.02)	$ 0.83	$ 0.70

Equipment Installment Plan Receivables (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	May 06, 2016	Feb. 24, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Accounts receivable, net			$ 69,789	$ 29,778
Deferred charges and other assets, net			14,756	$ 11,504
Sprint [Member] \| Transfer of Equipment Installment Receivables [Member] \| Subsequent Event [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Receivable from Sprint		$ 6,700
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Equipment Installment Plan Receivables [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Installment period	24 months
Equipment Installment Plan Receivables			700
Accounts receivable, net			600
Deferred charges and other assets, net			$ 100
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Minimum [Member] \| Equipment Installment Plan Receivables [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Estimated interest rate on receivable	5.00%
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Maximum [Member] \| Equipment Installment Plan Receivables [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Estimated interest rate on receivable	10.00%

Investments - Investments Carried at Fair Value (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Investments at fair value	$ 2,907	$ 2,654
Taxable Bond Funds [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Investments at fair value	24	24
Domestic Equity Funds [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Investments at fair value	2,787	2,564
International Equity Funds [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Investments at fair value	$ 96	$ 66

Investments - Narrative (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands		12 Months Ended
Investments - Narrative (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	May 06, 2016	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Investments [Abstract]
Unrealized gains		$ 143
Unrealized losses			$ 141	$ 51
Dividends received from investments		110	134	$ 184
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Increase in cost method investments		540	$ 388
Distributions from investments		2,900
Gain on equity method investment		$ 128
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Increase in cost method investments	$ 1,500

Investments - Other Investments (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Investment [Line Items]
Cost method investments	$ 6,919	$ 4,897
Equity method investments	450	3,128
Total other investments	7,369	8,025
Private Equity Limited Partnerships [Member]
Investment [Line Items]
Equity method investments	0	2,624
Other Equity Investments [Member]
Investment [Line Items]
Equity method investments	450	504
CoBank [Member]
Investment [Line Items]
Cost method investments	6,177	4,137
Other Equity Investments [Member]
Investment [Line Items]
Cost method investments	$ 742	$ 760

Property, Plant and Equipment (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Property, plant and equipment [Abstract]
Total property, plant and equipment	$ 1,159,077	$ 755,103
Less accumulated amortization and depreciation	460,955	345,085
Property, plant and equipment, net	698,122	410,018
Land [Member]
Property, plant and equipment [Abstract]
Total property, plant and equipment	13,057	4,181
Building and Structures [Member]
Property, plant and equipment [Abstract]
Total property, plant and equipment	$ 115,960	108,341
Building and Structures [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Estimated useful lives	10 years
Building and Structures [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Estimated useful lives	40 years
Cable and Wire [Member]
Property, plant and equipment [Abstract]
Total property, plant and equipment	$ 235,471	214,721
Cable and Wire [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Estimated useful lives	4 years
Cable and Wire [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Estimated useful lives	40 years
Equipment and Software [Member]
Property, plant and equipment [Abstract]
Total property, plant and equipment	$ 720,830	391,260
Equipment and Software [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Estimated useful lives	2 years
Equipment and Software [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Estimated useful lives	16 years 8 months 12 days
Plant in Service [Member]
Property, plant and equipment [Abstract]
Total property, plant and equipment	$ 1,085,318	718,503
Plant under Construction [Member]
Property, plant and equipment [Abstract]
Total property, plant and equipment	$ 73,759	$ 36,600

Long-Term Debt and Revolving Lines of Credit - Long Term Debt (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Total	$ 847,875	$ 201,250
Less: unamortized loan fees	18,610	1,589
Total debt, net of unamortized loan fees	829,265	199,661
Current maturities of long term debt, net of unamortized loan fees	32,041	22,492
Long-term debt, less current maturities, net of unamortized loan fees	797,224	177,169
Term Loan A [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Total	0	201,250
Term loan A-1 [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Total	472,875	0
Term loan A-2 [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Total	$ 375,000	$ 0

Long-Term Debt and Revolving Lines of Credit - Narrative (Details)		1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 18, 2015 USD ($) facility	Jun. 30, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Number of credit facilities \| facility	3
Total debt, net of unamortized loan fees			$ 829,265,000	$ 199,661,000
Unamortized loan fees			$ 18,610,000	1,589,000
Weighted average interest rate			3.83%
Variable swap rate	50.00%
Total leverage ratio through December 30, 2019	3.25
Total leverage ratio thereafter	3.00
Debt service coverage ratio, actual			0.0423
Minimum liquidity balance	$ 25,000,000		$ 25,000,000
Derivative asset, fair value			11,200,000	$ 688,000
Accrued in anticipation of early distribution of patronage credit			$ 2,200,000
Percentage of patronage credit paid in cash			75.00%
Percentage of patronage credit paid in shares			25.00%
London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Fixed interest rate	1.16%
Maximum [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Total leverage ratio from closing date through December 30, 2018	3.75
Minimum [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt service coverage ratio, actual	2.00
Revolving Credit Facility [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Term of credit facility	5 years
Maximum borrowing capacity	$ 75,000,000
Proceeds from line of credit			$ 0
Incremental Term Loan Facility [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Number of credit facilities \| facility	1
Maximum borrowing capacity	$ 150,000,000
Term loan A-1 [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Term of credit facility	5 years
Maximum borrowing capacity	$ 485,000,000
Quarterly principal payment period one			6,100,000
Quarterly principal payment period two			12,100,000
Quarterly principal payment period three			18,200,000
Remaining principal payment due			260,700,000
Term loan A-1 [Member] \| London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Basis spread on variable rate	2.75%
Term loan A-1 [Member] \| Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Line of credit facility amount borrowed	$ 485,000,000
Term loan A-2 [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Term of credit facility	7 years
Maximum borrowing capacity	$ 400,000,000
Proceeds from line of credit		$ 50,000,000
Quarterly principal payment period one			10,000,000
Remaining principal payment due			$ 185,000,000
Term loan A-2 [Member] \| London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Basis spread on variable rate	3.00%
Term loan A-2 [Member] \| Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Line of credit facility amount borrowed	$ 325,000,000
Term loan A-2 [Member] \| Delayed Draw Term Loan [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Line of credit facility remaining borrowing capacity	$ 75,000,000

Long-Term Debt and Revolving Lines of Credit - Financial Covenants in Credit Agreements (Details)		12 Months Ended
	Dec. 18, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)
Debt Disclosure [Abstract]
Total leverage ratio, actual		0.0281
Debt service coverage ratio, actual		0.0423
Total leverage ratio, covenant requirement		3.75
Debt service coverage ratio, covenant requirement		2.00
Minimum liquidity balance, actual		$ 136,000,000
Minimum liquidity balance	$ 25,000,000	$ 25,000,000

Long-Term Debt and Revolving Lines of Credit - Maturities of Long-term Debt (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Maturities of Long-term Debt [Abstract]
2017	$ 36,375
2018	68,500
2019	88,500
2020	100,625
2021	318,875
2022 and beyond	235,000
Total	$ 847,875	$ 201,250

Income Taxes - Allocation of Income Tax Expense (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]
Income tax expense on continuing operations	$ 2,840	$ 27,726	$ 22,151
Shareholders’ equity, for compensation expense for tax purposes in excess of amounts recognized for financial reporting purposes	0	(679)	(395)
Other comprehensive income for changes in cash flow hedge	4,162	(476)	(993)
Income tax expense	$ 7,002	$ 26,571	$ 20,763

Income Taxes - Components of Federal and State Income Taxes (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Current expense
Federal taxes	$ 44,779	$ 23,579	$ 16,592
State taxes	10,936	5,275	2,562
Total current provision	55,715	28,854	19,154
Deferred expense (benefit)
Federal taxes	(47,056)	(744)	1,636
State taxes	(5,819)	(384)	1,361
Total deferred provision	(52,875)	(1,128)	2,997
Income tax expense on continuing operations	$ 2,840	$ 27,726	$ 22,151
Effective tax rate	146.00%	40.40%	39.50%

Income Taxes - Reconciliation of Income Taxes (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation, Amount [Abstract]
Computed “expected” tax expense (35%)	$ 681	$ 24,007	$ 19,612
State income taxes, net of federal tax effect	6	3,179	2,550
Changes in state DTL for mergers	3,320	0	0
Excess share based compensation	(1,709)	0	0
Nondeductible merger expenses	801	0	0
Other, net	(259)	540	(11)
Income tax expense on continuing operations	$ 2,840	$ 27,726	$ 22,151
Federal statutory income tax rate	35.00%	35.00%	35.00%

Income Taxes - Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Deferred tax assets:
Deferred revenues	$ 8,849	$ 2,367
Net operating loss carry-forwards	29,472	717
Accruals and reserves	10,517	5,658
Pension benefits	6,994	1,023
Asset retirement obligations	8,495	2,922
Intangible assets	0	325
Total gross deferred tax assets	64,327	13,012
Less valuation allowance	(709)	(709)
Net deferred tax assets	63,618	12,303
Deferred tax liabilities:
Plant-in-service	139,753	85,503
Intangibles	70,799	0
Interest rate swaps	4,433	271
Other, net	470	490
Total gross deferred tax liabilities	215,455	86,264
Net deferred tax liabilities	$ 151,837	$ 73,961

Income Taxes - Narrative (Details) - USD ($)	12 Months Ended
Income Taxes - Narrative (Details) - USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]
State net operating loss carry-forwards, net of federal tax	$ 29,500,000
Valuation allowance	700,000
Federal and state net operating losses	74,000,000
Unrecognized tax benefits	$ 0	$ 0

Significant Contractual Relationship (Details)			12 Months Ended
Significant Contractual Relationship (Details)	Jan. 01, 2016	Aug. 01, 2013	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2012 megahertz	Dec. 31, 1999 renewal
Significant Contractual Relationship [Abstract]
Initial term of contract					20 years
Number of contract renewals \| renewal					3
Length of renewals					10 years
Right or obligation to sell business, percentage of EBV					90.00%
Collaborative Arrangements and Non-collaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Additional term of contract				5 years
Expected future net service fee	8.60%	14.00%
Management fee on post paid services			8.00%
Maximum [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements and Non-collaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Megahertz spectrum used				1,900
Additional term of contract				45 years
Minimum [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements and Non-collaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Megahertz spectrum used				800

Related Party Transactions (Details) - ValleyNet [Member] - USD ($) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Revenue from related parties	$ 2.4	$ 2.7	$ 3.0
Accounts receivable from related parties	0.2	0.2
Expenses from transactions with related party	$ 3.0	$ 2.4	$ 2.3

Retirement Plans - Benefit Obligation (Details) - Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] $ in Thousands	8 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)
Pension Plan [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan, Change in Benefit Obligation [Roll Forward]
Benefit obligations, at acquisition	$ 37,443
Service cost	0
Interest cost	956
Benefits paid	(340)
Actuarial gain	(3,703)
Benefit obligations as of December 31, 2016	34,356
Other Postretirement Benefit Plan [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan, Change in Benefit Obligation [Roll Forward]
Benefit obligations, at acquisition	4,298
Service cost	18
Interest cost	108
Benefits paid	0
Actuarial gain	(174)
Benefit obligations as of December 31, 2016	$ 4,250

Retirement Plans - Fair Value of Assets (Details) $ in Thousands	8 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)
Defined Benefit Plan, Change in Fair Value of Plan Assets [Roll Forward]
Plan assets as of December 31, 2016	$ 0
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Pension Plan [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan, Change in Fair Value of Plan Assets [Roll Forward]
Plan assets, at acquisition	22,813
Actual return on Plan assets	1,722
Benefits paid	(340)
Plan expenses	(121)
Plan assets as of December 31, 2016	24,074
Funded status: Net liability as of December 31, 2016	(10,282)
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Other Postretirement Benefit Plan [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan, Change in Fair Value of Plan Assets [Roll Forward]
Plan assets, at acquisition	0
Actual return on Plan assets	0
Benefits paid	0
Plan expenses	0
Funded status: Net liability as of December 31, 2016	$ (4,250)

Retirement Plans - Narrative (Details) $ in Thousands	8 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
Retirement Plans - Narrative (Details) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2016	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) bond_fund	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)	May 06, 2016 USD ($)
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Assumed annual rate increase in per capita cost of covered health care benefits				8.00%
Assumed annual rate decrease in per capita cost of covered health care benefits for the next five years		0.50%
Assumed annual rate per capita cost of covered health care benefits for year 2022 and thereafter				5.00%
Effect of one percentage point increase on service and interest cost components				$ 41
Effect of one percentage point increase on accumulated postretirement benefit obligation				800
Effect of one percentage point decrease on service and interest cost components				32
Effect of one percentage point decrease on accumulated postretirement benefit obligation				$ 634
Number of bond funds \| bond_fund				2
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Holding percentage of one asset in bond fund				4.00%
Holding percentage of one asset in total portfolio				1.00%
Pension Plan [Member] \| Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Benefit obligations, at acquisition	$ 34,356			$ 34,356			$ 37,443
Net periodic cost (income)	(4,348)
Pension Plan [Member] \| Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Scenario, Forecast [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Net periodic cost (income)			$ (200)
Other Postretirement Benefit Plan [Member] \| Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Benefit obligations, at acquisition	4,250			4,250			$ 4,298
Net periodic cost (income)	(48)
Other Postretirement Benefit Plan [Member] \| Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Scenario, Forecast [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Net periodic cost (income)			$ 200
401 (k) Plan [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Contribution to plan				3,800	$ 2,600	$ 2,500
SERP [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Liability due to participants	$ 2,900			$ 2,900	$ 2,700

Retirement Plans - Net Periodic Pension (Benefit) Cost (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	8 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Actuarial gains		$ (4,396)	$ 0	$ 0
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Pension Plan [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Service cost	$ 0
Interest cost	956
Expected return on plan assets	(1,018)
Actuarial gains	(4,286)
Net periodic (benefit) cost	(4,348)
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Other Postretirement Benefit Plan [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Service cost	18
Interest cost	108
Expected return on plan assets	0
Actuarial gains	(174)
Net periodic (benefit) cost	$ (48)

Retirement Plans - Assumptions (Details) - Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member]	8 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016
Pension Plan [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan, Weighted Average Assumptions Used in Calculating Benefit Obligation [Abstract]
Discount rate	4.15%
Defined Benefit Plan, Weighted Average Assumptions Used in Calculating Net Periodic Benefit Cost [Abstract]
Discount rate	4.15%
Expected return on plan assets	6.75%
Other Postretirement Benefit Plan [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan, Weighted Average Assumptions Used in Calculating Benefit Obligation [Abstract]
Discount rate	4.11%
Defined Benefit Plan, Weighted Average Assumptions Used in Calculating Net Periodic Benefit Cost [Abstract]
Discount rate	4.11%
Expected return on plan assets	0.00%

Retirement Plans - Asset Allocation (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	May 06, 2016	Dec. 31, 2016
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Fair Value		$ 0
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Actual Allocation	100.00%
Target allocations	100.00%
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Equity Securities [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Actual Allocation	76.00%
Target allocations, minimum	65.00%
Target allocations, maximum	75.00%
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Bond securities and cash equivalents [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Actual Allocation	24.00%
Target allocations, minimum	25.00%
Target allocations, maximum	35.00%

Retirement Plans - Future Benefit Plan Payments (Details) - Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)
Pension Plan [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan, Expected Future Benefit Payments, Fiscal Year Maturity [Abstract]
2017	$ 684
2018	703
2019	752
2020	821
2021	924
Aggregate of next five years	6,409
Other Postretirement Benefit Plan [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan, Expected Future Benefit Payments, Fiscal Year Maturity [Abstract]
2017	187
2018	156
2019	160
2020	155
2021	170
Aggregate of next five years	$ 925

Accrued and Other Liabilities - Accrued Liabilities and Other (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2016	Sep. 30, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Other Liabilities Disclosure [Abstract]
Sales and property taxes payable		$ 6,628	$ 1,055
Severance accrual, current portion		4,267	0
Asset retirement obligations, current portion		5,841	0
Other current liabilities		12,349	6,584
Accrued liabilities and other	$ 29,085	$ 29,085	$ 7,639

Accrued and Other Liabilities - Other Liabilities (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2016	Sep. 30, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Other Liabilities Disclosure [Abstract]
Non-current portion of deferred revenues		$ 8,933	$ 4,156
Straight-line management fee waiver		11,974	0
Other		2,836	2,229
Other liabilities	$ 23,743	$ 23,743	$ 6,385

- Definition

The noncurrent portion of deferred revenue amount as of balance sheet date. Deferred revenue is a liability related to a revenue producing activity for which revenue has not yet been recognized, and is not expected to be recognized in the next twelve months. Generally, an entity records deferred revenue when it receives consideration from a customer before achieving certain criteria that must be met for revenue to be recognized in conformity with GAAP.

+ References + Details

Stock Incentive Plans - Narrative (Details) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	1 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	May 31, 2016 employee $ / shares shares	Feb. 29, 2016 employee $ / shares shares	May 31, 2015 $ / shares shares	Feb. 28, 2015 employee $ / shares shares	May 31, 2014 $ / shares shares	Feb. 28, 2014 employee $ / shares shares	May 31, 2013 $ / shares shares	Feb. 28, 2013 $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) plan $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2005 shares	Dec. 31, 2013 $ / shares shares
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Number of stock incentive plans \| plan									2
Stock options outstanding (in shares)									911,000	1,312,000	1,394,000
The 2005 Plan [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Number of shares authorized for issuance (in shares)												2,880,000
Life of award												P10Y
The 2014 Plan [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Additional number of shares authorized for issuance (in shares)											3,000,000
Granted (in shares)									0	0	0
The 2014 Plan [Member] \| Management Shares [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Life of award											P10Y
Stock Options [Member] \| The 2014 Plan [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Granted (in shares)									0	0	0
Stock options outstanding (in shares)									524,642	904,158	997,352		1,101,014
Stock options outstanding (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares									$ 6.67	$ 7.70	$ 8.05		$ 8.35
Intrinsic value of outstanding options \| $									$ 10,800
Weighted average remaining contractual life									5 years 4 months 6 days
Number of options exercisable (in shares)									428,112
Weighted average exercise price, options exercisable (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares									$ 6.61
Intrinsic value, options exercisable \| $									$ 8,900
Options exercisable, weighted average remaining contractual term									5 years 2 months 5 days
Share price (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares									$ 27.30
Fair value of options vested \| $									$ 300
Intrinsic value of options exercised \| $									6,800
Proceeds from stock options exercised \| $									3,400
Share-based compensation expense \| $									58	$ 142	$ 452
Share based compensation income tax benefit \| $									23	29	78
Tax benefit realized from exercise of stock options \| $									1,700
Compensation, nonvested awards, compensation cost not yet recognized \| $									$ 24
Compensation, nonvested awards, cost not yet recognized, period for recognition									2 years
Non Vested Shares [Member] \| The 2014 Plan [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Share price (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares		$ 21.70		$ 15.01
Share-based compensation expense \| $									$ 3,400	2,600	2,200
Share based compensation income tax benefit \| $									1,400	$ 1,300	$ 900
Compensation, nonvested awards, compensation cost not yet recognized \| $									$ 2,100
Compensation, nonvested awards, cost not yet recognized, period for recognition									2 years
Granted (in shares)									172,520	190,258	181,530
Vested and issued (in shares)									190,254	211,498	161,674
Non Vested Shares [Member] \| The 2014 Plan [Member] \| Management Shares [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Stock options annual vesting percentage									25.00%	25.00%	25.00%
Granted (in shares)		71,936		79,946		135,562
Number of employees participating in grants of non vested shares \| employee		23		21		22
Grant date fair value per share (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares				$ 21.70		$ 15.01		$ 13.00
Retirement age									55 years
Number of years of service with the company									10 years
Non Vested Shares [Member] \| The 2014 Plan [Member] \| Former Employees of nTelos [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Granted (in shares)	12,210
Number of employees participating in grants of non vested shares \| employee	6
Grant date fair value per share (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares	$ 30.27
Non Vested Shares [Member] \| The 2014 Plan [Member] \| Employee Shares [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Granted (in shares)			17,258		29,752		33,664
Grant date fair value per share (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares			$ 31.33		$ 17.23		$ 12.83
Vested and issued (in shares)			6,984		10,180		9,390
Retirement age									55 years
Number of years of service with the company									10 years
Vested period for remaining shares									4 years
Non Vested Shares [Member] \| The 2014 Plan [Member] \| Non Employee Director Shares [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Stock options annual vesting percentage											33.00%
Granted (in shares)				26,790		31,984		12,304
Grant date fair value per share (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares				$ 21.70		$ 15.01		$ 13.00
Award vesting period									1 year	1 year
Non Vested Shares [Member] \| The 2014 Plan [Member] \| Eight Management Employees [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Life of award				P3Y
Granted (in shares)		44,326		48,576
Number of employees participating in grants of non vested shares \| employee				8
Grant date fair value per share (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares		$ 24.10		$ 15.66
Maximum percentage for granted share units				150.00%
Non Vested Shares [Member] \| The 2014 Plan [Member] \| Eight Management Employees [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Granted (in shares)		66,489		72,864
Non Vested Shares [Member] \| The 2014 Plan [Member] \| Eight Management Employees [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Granted (in shares)				0

Stock Incentive Plans - Valuation Assumptions (Details) - Non Vested Shares [Member] - The 2014 Plan [Member] - $ / shares	1 Months Ended
	Feb. 29, 2016	Feb. 28, 2015
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Fair Value Assumptions and Methodology [Abstract]
Dividend rate	1.11%	1.57%
Risk-free interest rate	0.89%	0.95%
Expected lives of options	2 years 10 months 13 days	2 years 10 months 13 days
Share price (in dollars per share)	$ 21.70	$ 15.01
Minimum [Member] \| US Treasury Rate [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Fair Value Assumptions and Methodology [Abstract]
Expected lives of options		2 years
Maximum [Member] \| US Treasury Rate [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Fair Value Assumptions and Methodology [Abstract]
Expected lives of options	3 years

Stock Incentive Plans - Summary of Outstanding Options (Details) - $ / shares	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Number of Options
Outstanding at beginning of year (in shares)	1,312,000	1,394,000
Outstanding at end of period (in shares)	911,000	1,312,000	1,394,000
The 2014 Plan [Member]
Number of Options
Granted (in shares)	0	0	0
Stock Options [Member] \| The 2014 Plan [Member]
Number of Options
Outstanding at beginning of year (in shares)	904,158	997,352	1,101,014
Granted (in shares)	0	0	0
Cancelled (in shares)	(8,126)	(6,252)	(2,146)
Exercised (in shares)	(371,390)	(86,942)	(101,516)
Outstanding at end of period (in shares)	524,642	904,158	997,352
Weighted Average Grant Price Per Option
Outstanding at beginning of year (in dollars per share)	$ 7.70	$ 8.05	$ 8.35
Granted (in dollars per share)		0.00	0.00
Cancelled (in dollars per share)	12.63	12.63	12.63
Exercised (in dollars per share)	9.04	11.46	11.21
Outstanding at end of period (in dollars per share)	$ 6.67	$ 7.70	$ 8.05

Stock Incentive Plans - Share Grant Activity (Details) - The 2014 Plan [Member] - Non Vested Shares [Member] - shares	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Nonvested Shares [Roll Forward]
Nonvested number, at beginning of year (in shares)	407,296	435,272	426,180
Granted (in shares)	172,520	190,258	181,530
Cancelled (in shares)	(3,537)	(6,736)	(10,764)
Vested and issued (in shares)	(190,254)	(211,498)	(161,674)
Nonvested number at end of year (in shares)	386,025	407,296	435,272

Major Customer (Details) - Operating Revenues [Member] - Sprint Nextel [Member] - customer	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Concentration Risk [Line Items]
Number of major customers	1
Concentration risk	69.00%	56.00%	58.00%

Shareholder Rights Plan (Details) - right / shares	12 Months Ended
Shareholder Rights Plan (Details) - right / shares	Dec. 31, 2016	Feb. 08, 2008
Stockholders' Equity Note [Abstract]
Number of rights granted per share owned (rights per share)		1
Beneficial ownership that triggers the shareholder rights, minimum		15.00%
Time period for independent directors to review the shareholders' rights plan	3 years

Lease Commitments - Narrative (Details) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
Lease Commitments - Narrative (Details) $ in Millions	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) renewal_term	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)
Operating Leased Assets [Line Items]
Rent expense	$ 43.8	$ 16.9	$ 16.1
Rent income	$ 7.2	$ 6.3	$ 6.0
Towers [Member]
Operating Leased Assets [Line Items]
Number of renewals \| renewal_term	4
Term of renewals	5 years
Towers [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Operating Leased Assets [Line Items]
Terms of leases	5 years
Towers [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Operating Leased Assets [Line Items]
Terms of leases	10 years
Other [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Operating Leased Assets [Line Items]
Terms of leases	5 years
Other [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Operating Leased Assets [Line Items]
Terms of leases	20 years

Lease Commitments - Future Minimum Lease Payments (Details) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)
Operating Leases, Future Minimum Payments Due, Fiscal Year Maturity [Abstract]
2017	$ 49,006
2018	48,557
2019	47,777
2020	46,908
2021	46,700
2022 and beyond	241,840
Total future lease payments	$ 480,788

Lease Commitments - Future Minimum Payments Receivable (Details) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)
Operating Leases, Future Minimum Payments Receivable [Abstract]
2017	$ 6,044
2018	5,724
2019	5,435
2020	4,753
2021	2,708
2022 and beyond	3,011
Total minimum rental receipts	$ 27,675

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities - Narrative (Details)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	May 31, 2016 USD ($) counterparty	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 USD ($)
Interest Expense [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Amount reclassified as an increase to interest expense during next twelve months	$ 900,000
Interest Rate Swap, September 2012 [Member] \| Not Designated as Hedging Instrument [Member] \| Cash Flow Hedging [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Amount of notional principal interest rate swap				$ 174,600,000.0
Notional amount of interest rate swaps	135,300,000		$ 152,800,000
Interest Rate Swap, May 2016 [Member] \| Not Designated as Hedging Instrument [Member] \| Cash Flow Hedging [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Amount of notional principal interest rate swap		$ 256,600,000.0
Number of counterparties \| counterparty		3
Notional amount of interest rate swaps	$ 301,100,000
Percentage hedged	50.00%

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities - Schedule of Derivative Financial Instruments as well as its Classification on the Consolidated Balance Sheet (Details) - Interest Rate Swap [Member] - Designated as Hedging Instrument [Member] - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Derivative Assets (Liabilities), at Fair Value, Net, by Balance Sheet Classification [Abstract]
Total derivatives designated as hedging instruments	$ 11,223	$ 688
Accrued Liabilities [Member]
Derivative Assets (Liabilities), at Fair Value, Net, by Balance Sheet Classification [Abstract]
Derivative liabilities, fair value	(895)	(682)
Deferred charges and other assets, net [Member]
Derivative Assets (Liabilities), at Fair Value, Net, by Balance Sheet Classification [Abstract]
Derivative assets, fair value	$ 12,118	$ 1,370

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities - Schedule of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) (Details) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)
AOCI Attributable to Parent, Before Tax [Roll Forward]
Balance as of December 31, 2015	$ 688
Balance as of December 31, 2016	11,223
AOCI Attributable to Parent, Tax [Roll Forward]
Balance as of December 31, 2015	(273)
Balance as of December 31, 2016	(4,435)
AOCI Attributable to Parent, Net of Tax [Roll Forward]
Balance as of December 31, 2015	415
Balance as of December 31, 2016	6,788
Gains on Cash Flow Hedges [Member]
AOCI Attributable to Parent, Before Tax [Roll Forward]
Other comprehensive income before reclassifications	8,370
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income (to interest expense)	2,165
Net current period other comprehensive income (loss)	10,535
AOCI Attributable to Parent, Tax [Roll Forward]
Other comprehensive income before reclassifications	(3,306)
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income (to interest expense)	(856)
Net current period other comprehensive income (loss)	(4,162)
AOCI Attributable to Parent, Net of Tax [Roll Forward]
Other comprehensive income before reclassifications	5,064
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income (to interest expense)	1,309
Net current period other comprehensive income (loss)	$ 6,373

Acquisition of NTELOS Holdings Corp. and Exchange with Sprint - Narrative (Details)			3 Months Ended			8 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	May 06, 2016 USD ($) installment shares	May 05, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Borrowing amount			$ 847,875,000			$ 847,875,000	$ 847,875,000	$ 201,250,000
Repayment of borrowing amount							213,793,000	23,000,000	$ 5,750,000
Integration and acquisition expenses							42,232,000	$ 3,546,000	$ 0
Term Loan [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Repayment of borrowing amount	$ 195,500,000
Customer Based Contract Rights [Member] \| Nonmonentary Exchange of Intangibles [Member] \| Sprint [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Nonmonetary transaction amount	206,700,000
Additional Customer Based Contract Rights [Member] \| Nonmonentary Exchange of Intangibles [Member] \| Sprint [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Nonmonetary transaction amount	$ 120,900,000
Gain on nonmonetary transfer, period of recognition	6 years
Spectrum Licenses [Member] \| Nonmonentary Exchange of Intangibles [Member] \| Sprint [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Nonmonetary transaction amount	$ 198,200,000
Affiliate Contract Agreement [Member] \| Nonmonentary Exchange of Intangibles [Member] \| Sprint [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Nonmonetary transaction amount	284,100,000
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Consideration	$ 667,800,000
Adjustment to depreciation expense					$ 4,600,000
Extension in term of affiliate relationship agreement with sprint	5 years
Limit of waived fee under affiliate agreement	$ 251,800,000.0
Period for additional waiver of management fee	6 months
Letters of credit		$ 2,200,000
Percentage of amount to cover each disbursement and performance default penalty of total eligible awards		10.00%
Business acquisition, number of shares issued (in shares) \| shares	380,000
Number of installment \| installment	5
Number of pending installment \| installment	4
Remaining period for payment of shares acquired value	4 years
Business acquisition, shares issued value	$ 10,400,000
Integration and acquisition expenses	90,000,000
Debt issuance cost	23,000,000
Severance costs							54,700,000
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Cost of Sales [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Severance costs							1,300,000
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Selling, General and Administrative Expenses [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Severance costs							$ 11,100,000
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Term Loan [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Borrowing amount	$ 810,000,000
Average effective interest rate	3.84%
Repayment of borrowing amount	$ 521,600,000
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Before amendment right or obligation to sell business	80.00%
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
After amendment right or obligation to sell business	90.00%
Management fee charge by Sprint	$ 4,200,000.0
Additional waiver of management fee	$ 5,000,000.0
Winning bid eligible to receive, amount		$ 5,000,000.0
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Customer Based Contract Rights [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangibles, revision, increase (decrease)				$ (24,500,000)		$ 8,546,000
Amortization expense, revision, increase (decrease)				(500,000)
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Additional Customer Based Contract Rights [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangibles, revision, increase (decrease)			7,100,000
Amortization expense, revision, increase (decrease)				400,000	$ 300,000
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Additional Customer Based Contract Rights [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Affiliate contract agreement	4 years
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Additional Customer Based Contract Rights [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Affiliate contract agreement	10 years
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] \| Affiliate Contract Agreement [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangibles, revision, increase (decrease)			3,700,000	$ 29,700,000
Affiliate contract agreement	14 years			14 years
Amortization expense, revision, increase (decrease)			$ 100,000	$ 400,000

Acquisition of NTELOS Holdings Corp. and Exchange with Sprint - Schedule of Preliminary Purchase Price Allocation and Revisions Recorded (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended	8 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2016	Dec. 31, 2016	May 06, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Business Combination, Recognized Identifiable Assets Acquired and Liabilities Assumed, Net [Abstract]
Goodwill		$ 145,256		$ 10
Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member]
Business Combination, Recognized Identifiable Assets Acquired and Liabilities Assumed, Net [Abstract]
Accounts receivable		45,688	$ 48,476
Inventory		4,572	3,810
Restricted cash		2,167	2,167
Investments		1,501	1,501
Prepaid expenses and other assets		14,835	14,835
Building held for sale		4,950	4,950
Property, plant and equipment		228,276	223,900
Goodwill		145,142	151,627
Other long term assets		10,843	10,288
Total assets acquired		879,949	868,954
Accounts payable		8,543	8,648
Advanced billings and customer deposits		12,477	12,477
Accrued expenses		24,885	25,230
Capital lease liability		418	418
Deferred tax liabilities		126,589	124,964
Retirement benefits		19,198	19,461
Other long-term liabilities		20,085	14,056
Business Combination, Provisional Information, Initial Accounting Incomplete, Adjustment, Noncurrent Liabilities, Other		6,029
Total liabilities assumed		212,195	205,254
Net assets acquired		667,754	663,700
Business Combination, Provisional Information, Initial Accounting Incomplete, Adjustments [Abstract]
Accounts receivable, revisions		(2,788)
Inventory, revisions		762
Property, plant and equipment, revisions		4,376
Goodwill, revisions		(6,485)
Other long term assets, revisions		555
Total assets acquired, revisions		10,995
Accounts payable, revisions		(105)
Accrued expenses, revisions		(345)
Deferred tax liabilities, revisions		1,625
Retirement benefits, revisions		(263)
Total liabilities assumed, revisions		6,941
Net assets acquired, revisions		(4,054)
Spectrum Licenses [Member] \| Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member]
Business Combination, Recognized Identifiable Assets Acquired and Liabilities Assumed, Net [Abstract]
Intangibles		198,200	198,200
Customer Based Contract Rights [Member] \| Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member]
Business Combination, Recognized Identifiable Assets Acquired and Liabilities Assumed, Net [Abstract]
Intangibles		206,746	198,200
Business Combination, Provisional Information, Initial Accounting Incomplete, Adjustments [Abstract]
Intangibles, revisions	$ (24,500)	8,546
Favorable lease intangible assets [Member] \| Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member]
Business Combination, Recognized Identifiable Assets Acquired and Liabilities Assumed, Net [Abstract]
Intangibles		17,029	$ 11,000
Business Combination, Provisional Information, Initial Accounting Incomplete, Adjustments [Abstract]
Intangibles, revisions		$ 6,029

Acquisition of NTELOS Holdings Corp. and Exchange with Sprint - Intangible Assets Resulting from Acquisition (Details) - Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] - USD ($) $ in Thousands		3 Months Ended
	May 06, 2016	Sep. 30, 2016
Affiliate Contract Agreement [Member]
Business Combination, Recognized Identifiable Assets Acquired and Liabilities Assumed, Intangible Assets, Other than Goodwill [Abstract]
Affiliate contract agreement	14 years	14 years
Basis	$ 284,100
Additional Customer Based Contract Rights [Member]
Business Combination, Recognized Identifiable Assets Acquired and Liabilities Assumed, Intangible Assets, Other than Goodwill [Abstract]
Basis	$ 120,855
Additional Customer Based Contract Rights [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Business Combination, Recognized Identifiable Assets Acquired and Liabilities Assumed, Intangible Assets, Other than Goodwill [Abstract]
Affiliate contract agreement	4 years
Additional Customer Based Contract Rights [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Business Combination, Recognized Identifiable Assets Acquired and Liabilities Assumed, Intangible Assets, Other than Goodwill [Abstract]
Affiliate contract agreement	10 years
Favorable leases - wireless [Member]
Business Combination, Recognized Identifiable Assets Acquired and Liabilities Assumed, Intangible Assets, Other than Goodwill [Abstract]
Basis	$ 17,029
Favorable leases - wireless [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Business Combination, Recognized Identifiable Assets Acquired and Liabilities Assumed, Intangible Assets, Other than Goodwill [Abstract]
Affiliate contract agreement	3 years
Favorable leases - wireless [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Business Combination, Recognized Identifiable Assets Acquired and Liabilities Assumed, Intangible Assets, Other than Goodwill [Abstract]
Affiliate contract agreement	19 years

Acquisition of NTELOS Holdings Corp. and Exchange with Sprint - Unaudited Pro forma Results of the Company (Details) - Ntelos Holding, Corp [Member] - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Business Acquisition, Pro Forma Information [Abstract]
Operating revenues	$ 646,769	$ 678,475
Income before income taxes	$ 2,989	$ 54,716

Segment Reporting - Narrative (Details)	12 Months Ended
Segment Reporting - Narrative (Details)	Dec. 31, 2016 state segment
Segment Reporting [Abstract]
Number of reportable segments \| segment	3
Non Sprint operations, number of states \| state	4

Segment Reporting - Selected Financial Data for Segments (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Sep. 30, 2016	Jun. 30, 2016	Mar. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Sep. 30, 2015	Jun. 30, 2015	Mar. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
External revenues
Service revenues									$ 478,485	$ 301,118	$ 287,245
Other revenues									56,803	41,367	39,701
Total external revenues									535,288	342,485	326,946
Internal revenues									0	0	0
Total operating revenues	$ 155,572	$ 156,836	$ 130,309	$ 92,571	$ 87,285	$ 85,212	$ 85,701	$ 84,287	535,288	342,485	326,946
Operating expenses
Cost of goods and services, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below									193,520	121,330	129,743
Selling, general and administrative, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown below									133,325	72,821	69,370
Integration and acquisition expenses									42,232	3,546	0
Depreciation and amortization									143,685	70,702	65,890
Total operating expenses									512,762	268,399	265,003
Operating income	$ 12,189	$ (3,929)	$ (7,046)	$ 21,312	$ 21,721	$ 15,089	$ 18,750	$ 18,526	22,526	74,086	61,943
Operating Segments [Member] \| Wireless [Member]
External revenues
Service revenues									359,769	192,752	191,147
Other revenues									24,364	11,609	11,867
Total external revenues									384,133	204,361	203,014
Internal revenues									4,620	4,440	4,440
Total operating revenues									388,753	208,801	207,454
Operating expenses
Cost of goods and services, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below									133,113	63,570	73,290
Selling, general and administrative, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown below									95,851	35,792	33,171
Integration and acquisition expenses									25,927	0
Depreciation and amortization									107,621	34,416	31,111
Total operating expenses									362,512	133,778	137,572
Operating income									26,241	75,023	69,882
Operating Segments [Member] \| Cable [Member]
External revenues
Service revenues									99,070	88,980	77,179
Other revenues									7,927	7,793	7,224
Total external revenues									106,997	96,773	84,403
Internal revenues									1,737	849	150
Total operating revenues									108,734	97,622	84,553
Operating expenses
Cost of goods and services, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below									58,581	54,611	51,982
Selling, general and administrative, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown below									19,248	19,412	19,521
Integration and acquisition expenses									0	0
Depreciation and amortization									23,908	23,097	23,148
Total operating expenses									101,737	97,120	94,651
Operating income									6,997	502	(10,098)
Operating Segments [Member] \| Wireline [Member]
External revenues
Service revenues									19,646	19,386	18,919
Other revenues									24,512	21,965	20,610
Total external revenues									44,158	41,351	39,529
Internal revenues									30,816	26,069	23,506
Total operating revenues									74,974	67,420	63,035
Operating expenses
Cost of goods and services, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below									36,259	31,668	30,088
Selling, general and administrative, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown below									6,474	6,612	6,009
Integration and acquisition expenses									0	0
Depreciation and amortization									11,717	12,736	11,224
Total operating expenses									54,450	51,016	47,321
Operating income									20,524	16,404	15,714
Eliminations [Member]
External revenues
Service revenues									0	0	0
Other revenues									0	0	0
Total external revenues									0	0	0
Internal revenues									(37,173)	(31,358)	(28,096)
Total operating revenues									(37,173)	(31,358)	(28,096)
Operating expenses
Cost of goods and services, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below									(34,433)	(28,519)	(25,617)
Selling, general and administrative, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown below									(2,740)	(2,839)	(2,479)
Integration and acquisition expenses									0	0
Depreciation and amortization									0	0	0
Total operating expenses									(37,173)	(31,358)	(28,096)
Operating income									0	0	0
Other [Member]
External revenues
Service revenues									0	0	0
Other revenues									0	0	0
Total external revenues									0	0	0
Internal revenues									0	0	0
Total operating revenues									0	0	0
Operating expenses
Cost of goods and services, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below									0	0	0
Selling, general and administrative, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown below									14,492	13,844	13,148
Integration and acquisition expenses									16,305	3,546
Depreciation and amortization									439	453	407
Total operating expenses									31,236	17,843	13,555
Operating income									$ (31,236)	$ (17,843)	$ (13,555)

Segment Reporting - Reconciliation of Operating Profit (Loss) from Segments to Consolidated (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Sep. 30, 2016	Jun. 30, 2016	Mar. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Sep. 30, 2015	Jun. 30, 2015	Mar. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Reconciliation of income from continuing operations from segments to consolidated [Abstract]
Total consolidated operating income	$ 12,189	$ (3,929)	$ (7,046)	$ 21,312	$ 21,721	$ 15,089	$ 18,750	$ 18,526	$ 22,526	$ 74,086	$ 61,943
Interest expense									(25,102)	(7,355)	(8,148)
Non-operating income, net									4,521	1,859	2,239
Income before income taxes									$ 1,945	$ 68,590	$ 56,034

Segment Reporting - Assets by Segment (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Segment Reporting, Asset Reconciling Item [Line Items]
Assets	$ 1,484,407	$ 627,151
Operating Segments [Member]
Segment Reporting, Asset Reconciling Item [Line Items]
Assets	2,495,367	983,609
Operating Segments [Member] \| Wireless [Member]
Segment Reporting, Asset Reconciling Item [Line Items]
Assets	1,101,716	205,718
Operating Segments [Member] \| Cable [Member]
Segment Reporting, Asset Reconciling Item [Line Items]
Assets	218,471	209,132
Operating Segments [Member] \| Wireline [Member]
Segment Reporting, Asset Reconciling Item [Line Items]
Assets	115,282	105,369
Other [Member]
Segment Reporting, Asset Reconciling Item [Line Items]
Assets	1,059,898	463,390
Eliminations [Member]
Segment Reporting, Asset Reconciling Item [Line Items]
Assets	$ (1,010,960)	$ (356,458)

Quarterly Results (unaudited) (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Sep. 30, 2016	Jun. 30, 2016	Mar. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Sep. 30, 2015	Jun. 30, 2015	Mar. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Quarterly Financial Information Disclosure [Abstract]
Operating revenues	$ 155,572	$ 156,836	$ 130,309	$ 92,571	$ 87,285	$ 85,212	$ 85,701	$ 84,287	$ 535,288	$ 342,485	$ 326,946
Operating income (loss)	12,189	(3,929)	(7,046)	21,312	21,721	15,089	18,750	18,526	22,526	74,086	61,943
Net income (loss)	$ (184)	$ (7,596)	$ (6,995)	$ 13,880	$ 12,108	$ 7,996	$ 10,474	$ 10,286	$ (895)	$ 40,864	$ 33,883
Basic income (loss) per share (in dollars per share)	$ 0.00	$ (0.16)	$ (0.14)	$ 0.29	$ 0.24	$ 0.17	$ 0.22	$ 0.21	$ (0.02)	$ 0.84	$ 0.70
Diluted income (loss) per share (in dollars per share)	$ 0.00	$ (0.16)	$ (0.14)	$ 0.28	$ 0.24	$ 0.17	$ 0.21	$ 0.21	$ (0.02)	$ 0.83	$ 0.70