Popularly known for its customer friendly plans, T-Mobile is now on its way towards expanding its data network coverage across the U.S. The carrier has announced plans to upgrade the existing range of 2G Edge networks to 4G LTE, with the acquisition of the 700 MHz spectrum from Verizon for a reported $2.37 billion.

The priority here isn’t speed but merely the expansion of coverage. The carrier boasts of blazing fast LTE data speeds, but sadly its reach is nowhere as spread out as AT&T or Verizon, since it didn’t enjoy the head start that the latter carriers did. However, this new wave of expansion should greatly help the carrier increase its 4G LTE footprint across the country. Customers who rely on 2G will still be able to access Edge, so no concerns there.

This expansion will benefit close to 230 million users by mid-2014 and an additional 20 million customers by the end of the year, so this news has certainly come at the right time for T-Mobile customers in these regions. AT&T rolled out the experimental LTE-A network in Chicago recently, so the Uncarrier faces plenty of competition from rival carriers.

• ViaCNET