| **Segments**                     | 3 Months Ended                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
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| **Segment Reporting [Abstract]** |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
| Segments                         | SegmentsOur reportable segments are business units that offer different products and are each managed separately.  A description of our reportable segments follows:Wireless - We offer wholesale wireless services.  Wireline - We provide a full range of wireless, data, video, voice, and managed services to residential customers, businesses, governmental entities, and educational and medical institutions primarily in Alaska.We evaluate performance and allocate resources based on Adjusted EBITDA, which is defined as earnings plus cash received in excess of revenue recognized for long-term fixed roaming arrangements and imputed interest on financed devices before:•Net interest expense, •Income taxes, •Depreciation and amortization expense, •Loss on extinguishment of debt, •Software impairment charge, •Derivative instrument unrealized income (loss), •Share-based compensation expense, •Accretion expense, •Loss attributable to non-controlling interest resulting from NMTC transactions, •Gains and impairment losses on equity and cost method investments, and•Other non-cash adjustments.Management believes that this measure is useful to investors and other users of our financial information in understanding and evaluating operating performance as an analytical indicator of income generated to service debt and fund capital expenditures.  In addition, multiples of current or projected Adjusted EBITDA are used to estimate current or prospective enterprise value.  The accounting policies of the reportable segments are the same as those described in Note 1, “Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” of this Form 10-Q.  We have no intersegment sales.We earn all revenues through sales of services and products within the United States. All of our long-lived assets are located within the United States of America, except approximately 82% of our undersea fiber optic cable systems which transit international waters and all of our satellite transponders.Summarized financial information for our reportable segments for the three months ended March 31, 2016 and 2015 follows (amounts in thousands): Three Months Ended Wireless Wireline Total Reportable SegmentsMarch 31, 2016     Revenues$51,462 179,636 231,098Adjusted EBITDA$40,064 38,042 78,106      March 31, 2015     Revenues$59,204 171,885 231,089Adjusted EBITDA$37,387 37,916 75,303A reconciliation of reportable segment Adjusted EBITDA to consolidated income (loss) before income taxes follows (amounts in thousands): Three Months Ended March 31, 2016 2015Reportable segment Adjusted EBITDA$78,106 75,303Less depreciation and amortization expense(47,142) (45,235)Less cash received in excess of revenue recognized for long-term roaming arrangements(7,500) —Less share-based compensation expense(2,327) (2,801)Less accretion expense(392) (450)Less software impairment charge— (26,417)Other(726) 341Consolidated operating income20,019 741Less other expense, net(15,970) (26,252)Consolidated income (loss) before income taxes$4,049 (25,511)We entered into new long-term roaming and backhaul agreements with our largest roaming partners.  The revenue recognized for these contracts was determined by calculating the cumulative minimum cash payments and recognizing the amount evenly over the life of the contracts.  In the early years of the contracts the cash received is in excess of the revenue recognized; in the later years the cash received will be less than the revenue recognized. To ensure Adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors and other users of our financial information in understanding and evaluating operating performance it is adjusted for the difference between the cash received and the revenue recognized for such arrangements. |

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| - 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.
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