AT&T announced today that it will purchase spectrum licenses from Aloha Partners LP to the sum of $2.5 billion. The move, which looks to enhance AT&T’s spectrum positioning by adding 12 MHz of spectrum at the 700MHz range, will increase AT&T’s ability to provide its customers with voice, data and video services.

In addition to enhancing AT&T’s services, it will also boost coverage, as the 700MHz spectrum covers 196 million people in 281 different markets — including all of the top 10 and 72 of the top 100 markets.

Forrest Miller, group president of Corporate Strategy and Development for AT&T, said that “customer demand for mobile services, including voice, data and video, is continually increasing.” With respect to the spectrum, he added “Aloha’s spectrum will enable AT&T to efficiently meet this growing demand and help our customers stay connected to their worlds.”

The only thing barring a done deal between Aloha and AT&T is government approval, which is expected within six to nine months. If the deal goes through this would likely silence critics of Apple’s iPhone who claim that the AT&T network on which it runs is inferior to others such as Verizon.