LTE revolution faces spectrum fragmentation

The world is going LTE, but the availability of spectrum in different countries and regions is fragmenting the 4G wireless standard internationally, according to research from Informa Telecoms & Media.

The company found distinct regional bands are emerging for LTE, which is posing a challenge for manufacturers looking at which bands to support in their devices. Informa said the availability of spectrum for 4G varies widely from country to country and by region with some bands only available in particular countries. For example, the 700MHz band, which is popular in the U.S., will only be adopted by a handful of operators outside the Americas. The 1900MHz band is most likely to be confined to the U.S. and Argentina, while the 1500MHz band will be limited to Japan.