Sprint - Nextel 2011 Annual Report Download - page 56

Table of Contents
required to be disclosed in our reports under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, such as this Form 10-K, is reported in accordance with the SEC's rules. Disclosure
controls are also designed with the objective of ensuring that such information is accumulated and communicated to management, including the Chief Executive Officer
and Chief Financial Officer, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
In connection with the preparation of this Form 10-K, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive
Officer and Chief Financial Officer, we carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures. Based on this
evaluation, the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that the design and operation of the disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of
December 31, 2011 in providing reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed in reports we file or submit under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 is
accumulated and communicated to management, including the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, to allow timely decisions regarding required
disclosure and in providing reasonable assurance that the information is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC's rules
and forms.
Internal controls over our financial reporting continue to be updated as necessary to accommodate modifications to our business processes and accounting
procedures. There have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the fourth quarter 2011 that have materially affected, or are
reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
Management's Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Our internal control system was designed to
provide reasonable assurance to our management and board of directors regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for
external purposes.
Our management conducted an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2011. This assessment was
based on the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission in Internal Control—Integrated Framework. Based on this
assessment, management believes that, as of December 31, 2011, our internal control over financial reporting was effective.
Our independent registered public accounting firm has issued a report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. This report appears
on page F-2.
The successful deployment related to the changes in technology as a result of Network Vision is expected to result in incremental charges during the period of
implementation including, but not limited to, an increase in depreciation and amortization associated with long-lived assets, both Nextel and Sprint platform related, due
to changes in our estimates of the remaining useful lives of long-lived assets, and the expected timing of asset retirement obligations, which we expect to have a material
impact on our results of operations. In addition to these charges, we expect to incur lease exit and other contract termination costs that may also have a material impact to
our consolidated financial statements, the amount for which are not estimable at this time.
In the first quarter of 2012, we formalized our plans to decommission roughly one-third of our total Nextel platform, or 9,600 towers, by the end of 2012. We
also expect to be completed with our transition of customers from the Nextel platform to our Sprint platform by the end of 2013, which should allow us to decommission
the remainder of our Nextel platform sites. As a result, we have revised our estimates of the expected useful lives of certain Nextel platform assets and asset retirement
obligations through the end of 2013. Accordingly, approximately $2 billion of the remaining $3.6 billion net book value of Nextel platform assets is expected to be
accelerated through depreciation expense, of which a disproportionate amount is expected to be recognized during 2012. The exact timing of the acceleration is dependent
upon when the assets are expected to be phased out of service. These estimates are derived from our internal decommissioning plan, which is still evolving. We estimate
the incremental effect of accelerated depreciation related to Nextel platform assets in our 2012 results to be in the range of approximately $1.2 to $1.5 billion.
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Item 9B. Other Information