LTE Frequency Band

LTE was developed to work in a wide frequency ranges as well as in many band groups. Many of the LTE frequency bands are used by existing cellular technologies in the other hand others are new as other users are re allocated spectrum elsewhere.

This is the main advantage of LTE in terms of usage but when it comes to developing a new LTE modem or phone this becomes one of the toughest challenge. The developers need to support a majority of frequency bands and a number of band groups.

In the current LTE phones the main issues comes in terms of reselections, handovers and other mobilities between different frequency bands.

LTE frequency bands range from Band 1 which is 2100 band till Band 44 which is TDD band. The LTE frequency bands are designed keeping backward compatibility in mind.

The complete number of frequency bands supported in LTE can be found in 36.101 from section 5.6.1-1.

FDD And TDD LTE Frequency Bands

FDD spectrum requires pair bands, one for the uplink and one for the downlink, and TDD requires a single band as uplink and downlink are on exactly the same frequency but time separated. Because of this, you will find different LTE band allocations for TDD and FDD. In some instances these bands may overlap, and it is therefore feasible, although unlikely that both TDD and FDD transmissions might be present on a particular LTE frequency band.

The greater likelihood is that a single UE or mobile will have to detect whether a TDD or FDD transmission should be made on a given band. UEs that roam may encounter both types on the same band. They will therefore need to detect what type of transmission is being made on that particular LTE band in its current location.

E-UTRA Operating Band	Uplink (UL) operating band BS receive UE transmit		Downlink (DL) operating band BS transmit UE receive		Duplex Mode
	FUL_low	– FUL_high	FDL_low	– FDL_high
1	1920 MHz	1980 MHz	2110 MHz	2170 MHz	FDD
2	1850 MHz	1910 MHz	1930 MHz	1990 MHz	FDD
3	1710 MHz	1785 MHz	1805 MHz	1880 MHz	FDD
4	1710 MHz	1755 MHz	2110 MHz	2155 MHz	FDD
5	824 MHz	849 MHz	869 MHz	894MHz	FDD
6	830 MHz	840 MHz	875 MHz	885 MHz	FDD
7	2500 MHz	2570 MHz	2620 MHz	2690 MHz	FDD
8	880 MHz	915 MHz	925 MHz	960 MHz	FDD
9	1749.9 MHz	1784.9 MHz	1844.9 MHz	1879.9 MHz	FDD
10	1710 MHz	1770 MHz	2110 MHz	2170 MHz	FDD
11	1427.9 MHz	1447.9 MHz	1475.9 MHz	1495.9 MHz	FDD
12	699 MHz	716 MHz	729 MHz	746 MHz	FDD
13	777 MHz	787 MHz	746 MHz	756 MHz	FDD
14	788 MHz	798 MHz	758 MHz	768 MHz	FDD
15	Reserved		Reserved		FDD
16	Reserved		Reserved		FDD
17	704 MHz	716 MHz	734 MHz	746 MHz	FDD
18	815 MHz	830 MHz	860 MHz	875 MHz	FDD
19	830 MHz	845 MHz	875 MHz	890 MHz	FDD
20	832 MHz	862 MHz	791 MHz	821 MHz	FDD
21	1447.9 MHz	1462.9 MHz	1495.9 MHz	1510.9 MHz	FDD
22	3410 MHz	3490 MHz	3510 MHz	3590 MHz	FDD
23	2000 MHz	2020 MHz	2180 MHz	2200 MHz	FDD
24	1626.5 MHz	1660.5 MHz	1525 MHz	1559 MHz	FDD
25	1850 MHz	1915 MHz	1930 MHz	1995 MHz	FDD
26	814 MHz	849 MHz	859 MHz	894 MHz	FDD
27	807 MHz	824 MHz	852 MHz	869 MHz	FDD
28	703 MHz	748 MHz	758 MHz	803 MHz	FDD
...
33	1900 MHz	1920 MHz	1900 MHz	1920 MHz	TDD
34	2010 MHz	2025 MHz	2010 MHz	2025 MHz	TDD
35	1850 MHz	1910 MHz	1850 MHz	1910 MHz	TDD
36	1930 MHz	1990 MHz	1930 MHz	1990 MHz	TDD
37	1910 MHz	1930 MHz	1910 MHz	1930 MHz	TDD
38	2570 MHz	2620 MHz	2570 MHz	2620 MHz	TDD
39	1880 MHz	1920 MHz	1880 MHz	1920 MHz	TDD
40	2300 MHz	2400 MHz	2300 MHz	2400 MHz	TDD
41	2496 MHz	2690 MHz	2496 MHz	2690 MHz	TDD
42	3400 MHz	3600 MHz	3400 MHz	3600 MHz	TDD
43	3600 MHz	3800 MHz	3600 MHz	3800 MHz	TDD
44	703 MHz	803 MHz	703 MHz	803 MHz	TDD
NOTE 1: Band 6 is not applicable

E-UTRA band / Channel bandwidth

E-UTRA Band	1.4 MHz	3 MHz	5 MHz	10 MHz	15 MHz	20 MHz
1			Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes1	Yes1
3	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes1	Yes1
4	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
5	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes1
6			Yes	Yes1
7			Yes	Yes	Yes3	Yes1, 3
8	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes1
9			Yes	Yes	Yes1	Yes1
10			Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
11			Yes	Yes1
12	Yes	Yes	Yes1	Yes1
13			Yes1	Yes1
14			Yes1	Yes1
...
17			Yes1	Yes1
18			Yes	Yes1	Yes1
19			Yes	Yes1	Yes1
20			Yes	Yes1	Yes1	Yes1
21			Yes	Yes1	Yes1
22			Yes	Yes	Yes1	Yes1
23	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
24			Yes	Yes
25	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes1	Yes1
26	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes1	Yes1
27	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes[1]
28		Yes	Yes	Yes1	Yes1	Yes1, 2
...
33			Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
34			Yes	Yes	Yes
35	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
36	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
37			Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
38			Yes	Yes	Yes3	Yes3
39			Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
40			Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
41			Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
42			Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
43			Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
44		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

NOTE 1: 1 refers to the bandwidth for which a relaxation of the specified UE receiver sensitivity requirement is allowed.
NOTE 2: 2 For the 20 MHz bandwidth, the minimum requirements are specified for E-UTRA UL carrier frequencies confined to either 713-723 MHz or 728-738 MHz
NOTE 3: 3 refers to the bandwidth for which the uplink transmission bandwidth can be restricted by the network for some channel assignments in FDD/TDD co-existence scenarios in order to meet unwanted emissions requirements.

LTE FDD Spectrum

LTE TDD Spectrum