Is T-Mobile coming to a cornfield near you? The little mobile company that could will likely increase its coverage outside densely populated cities this year, all thanks to a tidy bit of wireless spectrum it just bought off Verizon.

T-Mobile announced Monday the purchase of low-band spectrum licenses from Verizon Wireless at a hefty price tag of $2.365 billion, reports Fortune.

Low-band spectrum can travel farther distances and penetrate buildings more effectively than high-band spectrum, which is good for T-Mobile as it seeks to reach more rural customers. City slickers will benefit as well — the move increases T-Mobile’s low-band spectrum coverage to 21 of the top 30 U.S. markets – including New York, Los Angeles Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

And if it can appeal to those customers, it might just stop them from jumping ship to AT&T: Monday’s purchase comes on the heels of AT&T’s new promotion offering current T-Mobile customers hundreds of dollars in trade-in and bill credit to switch to the larger provider.

The purchase includes 700 MHz A-Block spectrum licenses, as well as certain AWS and PCS spectrum licenses.

By (new staffer!) Ashlee Kieler

T-Mobile acquires wireless spectrum from Verizon [Fortune]

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