The world has 120 commercial LTE1800 networks, in 63 countries, according to a recent Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) report, and 279 commercial LTE networks, in 101 countries, 43 percent of which use the 1800-MHz (band 3) spectrum, either as a single band system or part of a multi-band deployment.

GSA says further 1800-MHz is the prime band for LTE deployments worldwide and will greatly assist international roaming for mobile broadband. Many more LTE1800 network deployments are in the pipeline. In addition, 1800-MHz now has the largest user device ecosystem, with 37percent of all LTE user devices supporting LTE1800 band. More than 50 percent of newly opened user terminals support 1800-MHz spectrum and a total of 589 LTE1800 user devices have been announced, for an annual growth of 152 percent.