Cellular frequencies

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Mobile communication standards

GSM / UMTS (3GPP) Family

GSM (2G) GPRS EDGE (EGPRS) EDGE Evolution CSD HSCSD
UMTS (3G) HSPA HSDPA HSUPA HSPA+ UMTS-TDD TD-CDMA TD-SCDMA FOMA
UMTS Rev. 8 (Pre-4G) LTE HSOPA (Super 3G)


cdmaOne / CDMA2000 (3GPP2) Family

cdmaOne (2G)
CDMA2000 (3G) EV-DO
UMB (Pre-4G)


AMPS Family
AMPS (1G) TACS / ETACS
D-AMPS (2G)


Other Technologies
0G PTT MTS IMTS AMTS OLT MTD Autotel / PALM ARP
1G NMT Hicap CDPD Mobitex DataTAC
2G iDEN PDC CSD PHS WiDEN
Pre-4G iBurst HIPERMAN WiMAX WiBro GAN (UMA)


Channel Access Methods FDMA OFDMA TDMA SSMA CDMA


Frequency bands Cellular GSM UMTS PCS SMR

All cellular phone networks worldwide utilize a portion of the radio frequency spectrum designated as Ultra High Frequency, or "UHF", for the transmission and reception of their signals. The UHF band is also shared with Television, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth transmission. The cellular frequencies are the sets of frequency ranges within the UHF band that have been allocated for cellular phone use.

Due to historical reasons, radio frequencies used for cellular networks differ in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. The first commercial standard for mobile connection in the United States was AMPS, which was in the 800 MHz frequency band. In Europe, the first wide-spread automatic mobile network was based on the NMT-450 standard, which was in the 450 MHz band. As mobile phones became more popular and affordable, mobile providers encountered a problem because they couldn't provide service to the increasing number of customers. They had to develop their existing networks and eventually introduce new standards, often based on other frequencies. The GSM standard, which appeared in Europe to replace NMT-450 and other standards, initially used the 900 MHz band. As demand grew, carriers acquired licenses in the 1800 MHz band. (Generally speaking, lower frequencies allow carriers to provide coverage for a larger area, while higher frequencies allow carriers to provide service to more customers in a given area.)

In the U.S., the analog AMPS standard that used the Cellular band (800 MHz) was replaced by a number of digital systems. Initially, systems based upon the AMPS mobile phone model were popular, including IS-95 (often known as "CDMA", the air interface technology it uses) and IS-136 (often known as D-AMPS, Digital AMPS, or "TDMA", the air interface technology it uses.) Eventually, IS-136 on these frequencies was replaced by most operators with GSM. GSM had already been running for some time on US PCS (1900 MHz) frequencies.

And, some NMT-450 analog networks have been replaced with digital networks utilizing the same frequency. In Russia and some other countries, local carriers received licenses for 450 MHz frequency to provide CDMA mobile coverage.

Many GSM phones support three bands (900/1800/1900 MHz or 850/1800/1900 MHz) or four bands (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), and are usually referred to as tri band and quad band phones, or world phones; with such a phone one can travel internationally and use the same handset. This portability is not as extensive with IS-95 phones, however, as IS-95 networks do not exist in most of Europe.

Mobile networks based on different standards may use the same frequency range; for example, AMPS, D-AMPS, N-AMPS and IS-95 all use the 800 MHz frequency band. Moreover, one can find both AMPS and IS-95 networks in use on the same frequency in the same area that do not interfere with each other. This is achieved by the use of different channels to carry data. The actual frequency used by a particular phone can vary from place to place, depending on the settings of the carrier's base station.

1 Frequency bands recommended by ITU
2 Frequency bands used in USA
3 Most widely used channelization and frequencies
4 Frequency bands used by GSM
5 Other Regions
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Frequency bands recommended by ITU

Main article: UMTS frequency bands

ITU-R approved in June 2003 the following bands to the terrestrial Mobile telecommunication IMT-2000: 806-960 MHz, 1710-2025 MHz, 2110-2200 MHz and 2500-2690 MHz.

[edit] Frequency bands used in USA

Current / Planned Technologies	Band	Frequency (MHz)
SMR iDEN	800	806-824 and 851-869
AMPS, GSM, IS-95 (CDMA), IS-136 (D-AMPS)	Cellular	824-849, 869-894, 896-901, 935-940
GSM, IS-95 (CDMA), IS-136 (D-AMPS)	PCS	1850-1910 and 1930-1990
3G, 4G, MediaFlo, DVB-H	700MHz	698-806
Unknown	1.4GHz	1392-1395 and 1432-1435
3G, 4G	AWS	1710-1755 and 2110-2170
4G	BRS/EBS	2500-2690

The usage of frequencies in USA is regulated by Federal Communications Commission (FCC). USA is then divided geographically into a number of Trading Areas. A mobile operator (or other interested parties) must bid on each trading area individually. A bidder can use the frequency spectrum for whatever purpose he wants. Go to Wireless Advisor for a listing of the network operators for a given ZIP-code.

The Cellular band (from 839 MHz to 880 MHz) is divided into 2 frequency blocks (A and B). There are 306 Metropolitan Service Areas and 428 rural service areas. Each trading area consists of one or more counties.

The PCS band (from 1850 to 1990 MHz) is divided into six frequency blocks (A through F). Each block is between 10 MHz and 30 MHz bandwidth. License (A or B) is granted for a Major Trading Areas (MTAs). License (C to F) is granted for a Basic Trading Areas (BTAs). There are 51 MTAs and 493 BTAs in the United States.

The AWS bands, auctioned in the summer of 2006, were for 1710-1755 MHz, and 2110-2155 MHz. The spectrum was divided into blocks: A blocks were for Cellular Market Areas, based on existing cellular (1G) licenses, and were 2x10MHz. B and C blocks (2x10MHz and 2x5MHz respectively) were for Basic Economic Areas, larger than CMAs, usually comprising of large portions of single states. D, E, and F blocks covered huge areas of the country, typically several states at a time, and covered 2x5MHz for D and E blocks, 2x10MHz for F.^[1]

The 700MHz band was auctioned in early 2008, with Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility winning the majority of available spectrum. Qualcomm and Echostar were winners of a significant amount of broadcast-oriented spectrum. The winners have not yet announced what technology they intend to deploy on this spectrum, but it is expected to host a range of 3G, 4G, and broadcast technologies such as MediaFlo and DVB-H.

More bands are under consideration for auction by the FCC. These are currently used by DoD, NASA, and other government agencies.

Cellular and PCS bands are also used in other countries in the Americas.

[edit] Most widely used channelization and frequencies

The following chart presents graphically the forward link (base station to mobile) frequencies and channelization most prevalently used in today's cellular communication systems.

Typical Cellular Channelization and Frequencies

Full Resolution PDF Version

[edit] Frequency bands used by GSM

Main article: GSM frequency bands

System	Band	Uplink	Downlink	Channel Number
GSM 400	450	450.4 - 457.6	460.4 - 467.6	259 - 293
GSM 400	480	478.8 - 486.0	488.8 - 496.0	306 - 340
GSM 850	850	824.0 - 849.0	869.0 - 894.0	128 - 251
GSM 900 (P-GSM)	900	890.0 - 915.0	935.0 - 960.0	1 - 124
GSM 900 (E-GSM)	900	880.0 - 915.0	925.0 - 960.0	0 - 124, 975 - 1023
GSM-R (R-GSM)	900	876.0 - 880.0	921.0 - 925.0	955 - 973
DCS 1800	1800	1710.0 - 1785.0	1805.0 - 1880.0	512 - 885
PCS 1900	1900	1850.0 - 1910.0	1930.0 - 1990.0	512 - 810