Editing UMTS (section)

=== Spectrum allocation ===
{{Update|section|date=October 2013}}
{{main|UMTS frequency bands}}
Over 130 licenses had been awarded to operators worldwide, as of December 2004, specifying W-CDMA radio access technology that builds on GSM. In Europe, the license process occurred at the tail end of the technology bubble, and the auction mechanisms for allocation set up in some countries resulted in some extremely high prices being paid for the original 2100&nbsp;MHz licenses, notably in the UK and Germany. In [[Germany]], bidders paid a total €50.8 billion for six licenses, two of which were subsequently abandoned and written off by their purchasers (Mobilcom and the [[Sonera]]/[[Telefónica]] consortium). It has been suggested that these huge license fees have the character of a very large tax paid on future income expected many years down the road. In any event, the high prices paid put some European telecom operators close to bankruptcy (most notably [[KPN]]). Over the last few years some operators have written off some or all of the license costs. Between 2007 and 2009, all three Finnish carriers began to use 900&nbsp;MHz UMTS in a shared arrangement with its surrounding 2G GSM base stations for rural area coverage, a trend that is expected to expand over Europe in the next 1–3 years.{{update after|2012|6|2}}

The 2100&nbsp;MHz band (downlink around 2100&nbsp;MHz and uplink around 1900&nbsp;MHz) allocated for UMTS in Europe and most of Asia is already used in North America. The 1900&nbsp;MHz range is used for 2G ([[Personal Communications Service|PCS]]) services, and 2100&nbsp;MHz range is used for satellite communications. Regulators have, however, freed up some of the 2100&nbsp;MHz range for 3G services, together with a different range around 1700&nbsp;MHz for the uplink. {{update after|2012|6|2}}

AT&T Wireless launched UMTS services in the United States by the end of 2004 strictly using the existing 1900&nbsp;MHz spectrum allocated for 2G PCS services. Cingular acquired AT&T Wireless in 2004 and has since then launched UMTS in select US cities. Cingular renamed itself AT&T Mobility and rolled out<ref>{{cite web|last1=Vries|first1=Lloyd|title=From AT&T To Cingular And Back Again|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/from-att-to-cingular-and-back-again/|website=[[CBS News]]|date=12 January 2007 |access-date=30 June 2017}}</ref> some cities with a UMTS network at 850&nbsp;MHz to enhance its existing UMTS network at 1900&nbsp;MHz and now offers subscribers a number of dual-band UMTS 850/1900 phones.

T-Mobile's rollout of UMTS in the US was originally focused on the 1700&nbsp;MHz band. However, T-Mobile has been moving users from 1700&nbsp;MHz to 1900&nbsp;MHz (PCS) in order to reallocate the spectrum to 4G [[LTE (telecommunication)|LTE]] services.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegeography.com/products/commsupdate/articles/2015/06/24/t-mobile-shifting-1700mhz-hspa-users-to-1900mhz-band/ |title=T-Mobile shifting 1700&nbsp;MHz HSPA+ users to 1900&nbsp;MHz band |publisher=TeleGeography |date=2015-06-24 |access-date=2016-04-07}}</ref>

In Canada, UMTS coverage is being provided on the 850&nbsp;MHz and 1900&nbsp;MHz bands on the Rogers and Bell-Telus networks. Bell and Telus share the network. Recently, new providers [[Wind Mobile]], [[Mobilicity]] and [[Videotron]] have begun operations in the 1700&nbsp;MHz band.

In 2008, Australian telco Telstra replaced its existing CDMA network with a national UMTS-based 3G network, branded as [[NextG]], operating in the 850&nbsp;MHz band. Telstra currently provides UMTS service on this network, and also on the 2100&nbsp;MHz UMTS network, through a co-ownership of the owning and administrating company 3GIS. This company is also co-owned by [[Hutchison 3G|Hutchison 3G Australia]], and this is the primary network used by their customers. [[Optus]] is currently rolling out a 3G network operating on the 2100&nbsp;MHz band in cities and most large towns, and the 900&nbsp;MHz band in regional areas. [[Vodafone Australia|Vodafone]] is also building a 3G network using the 900&nbsp;MHz band.

In India, [[BSNL]] has started its 3G services since October 2009, beginning with the larger cities and then expanding over to smaller cities. The 850&nbsp;MHz and 900&nbsp;MHz bands provide greater coverage compared to equivalent 1700/1900/2100&nbsp;MHz networks, and are best suited to regional areas where greater distances separate base station and subscriber.

Carriers in South America are now also rolling out 850&nbsp;MHz networks.