AT&T has acquired part of the 700MHz B band spectrum from Verizon for $1.9 billion in cash. This spectrum acquisition by AT&T will allow the company to boost its US LTE rollout. According to AT&T, the new 700MHz license will allow AT&T to rollout LTE to more than 42 million people across 18 US states, including California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.

AT&T says this spectrum purchase will "complement [its] existing holdings in the 700 MHz B band and will allow AT&T to continue to deploy 4G LTE services to meet demand for mobile Internet services on a wide array of smartphones, tablets and other devices."

AT&T has been in an acquisition mode as of late. Just a few days ago, AT&T paid $780 million to acquire Alltel's US wireless business. It plans to use this acquisition to expand rural coverage. The spectrum acquisition is subject to regulatory approval, so it hasn't closed yet. Once the transaction is approved, AT&T believes the deal will close "in the second half of 2013."