LTE Tutorial Long-Term Evolution

NB-IoT Frequency Bands (As per 3GPP Rel. 13, 14 and 15)

3GPP has defined a set of frequency bands for which NB-IoT can be used. 3GPP TS 36.101 from Release 13 provides the list of the supported bands: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 26, 28, 66 and Release 14 added the bands: 11, 25, 31 and 70. Later, 3GPP Release 15 added further bands: 4, 14, 71, 72, 73, 74 and 85. For Narrow Band IoT system operates in HD-FDD duplex mode.

NB-IoT Forum members, so far, indicates a variety of bands have been used. Below is an overview of the frequency bands supported in the different regions:

  • North America:B4 (1700), B12 (700), B66 (1700), B71 (600), B26 (850)
  • Asia Pacific:B1(2100), B3(1800), B5(850), B8(900), B18(850), B20(800), B26(850)
    and B28(700);
  • Europe:B3 (1800), B8 (900) and B20 (800);
  • Latin America:B2(1900), B3(1800), B5(850) and B28(700)
  • Commonwealth of Independent States:B3 (1800), B8 (900) and B20 (800);
  • Sub-Saharan Africa:B3(1800) and B8(900);
  • Middle East and North Africa:B8(900) and B20(800);

These bands are only a subset of the bands supported by 3GPP Release 13 are likely to be used: a total of thirteen frequency bands (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, 18, 20, 26, 28, 66 and 71). After looking at the minimum overlap of the bands for individual countries, a minimum of ten bands: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, 20, 26 and 28 are required for coverage in all the countries for which the NB-IoT forum members have suggested.

3GPP Release 13 NB IoT Frequency Band Details :

NB BandUplink (UL) Operating Band
BS Receive / UE Transmit FUL_low – FUL_high
Downlink (DL) Operating Band
BS Transmit / UE Receive FDL_low – FDL_high
Duplex Mode
B11920 MHz – 1980 MHz2110 MHz – 2170 MHzHD-FDD
B21850 MHz – 1910 MHz1930 MHz – 1990 MHzHD-FDD
B31710 MHz – 1785 MHz1805 MHz – 1880 MHzHD-FDD
B5824 MHz – 849 MHz869 MHz – 894 MHzHD-FDD
B8880 MHz – 915 MHz925 MHz – 960 MHzHD-FDD
B12699 MHz – 716 MHz729 MHz – 746 MHzHD-FDD
B13777 MHz – 787 MHz746 MHz – 756 MHzHD-FDD
B17704 MHz – 716 MHz734 MHz – 746 MHzHD-FDD
B18815 MHz – 830 MHz860 MHz -875 MHzHD-FDD
B19830 MHz – 845 MHz875 MHz – 890 MHzHD-FDD
B20832 MHz – 862 MHz791 MHz -821 MHzHD-FDD
B26814 MHz – 849 MHz859 MHz – 894 MHzHD-FDD
B28703 MHz – 748 MHz758 MHz – 803 MHzHD-FDD
B661710 MHz – 1780 MHz2110 MHz – 2200 MHzHD-FDD

3GPP Release 14 NB IoT Frequency Band Addition :

NB BandUplink (UL) Operating Band
BS Receive / UE Transmit FUL_low – FUL_high
Downlink (DL) Operating Band
BS Transmit / UE Receive FDL_low – FDL_high
Duplex Mode
B111427.9 MHz – 1447.9 MHz1475.9 MHz – 1495.9 MHzHD-FDD
B251850 MHz – 1915 MHz1930 MHz -1995 MHzHD-FDD
B31452.5 MHz – 457.5 MHz462.5 MHz – 467.5 MHzHD- FDD
B701695 MHz – 1710 MHz1995 MHz – 2020 MHzHD-FDD

3GPP Release 15 NB IoT Frequency Band Addition :

NB BandUplink (UL) Operating Band
BS Receive / UE Transmit FUL_low – FUL_high
Downlink (DL) Operating Band
BS Transmit / UE Receive FDL_low – FDL_high
Duplex Mode
B41710 MHz – 1755 MHz2110 MHz – 2155 MHzHD-FDD
B14788 MHz – 798 MHz758 MHz – 768 MHzHD-FDD
B71663 MHz – 698 MHz617 MHz – 783 MHzHD-FDD
B72451 MHz – 456 MHz461 MHz – 466 MHzHD-FDD
B73450 MHz – 455 MHz461 MHz – 465 MHzHD -FDD
B741427 MHz – 1470 MHz1475 MHz -1518 MHzHD- FDD
B85698 MHz – 716 MHz728 MHz – 746 MHzHD-FDD

References :

  1. LTE; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); User Equipment (UE) radio transmission and reception (3GPP TS 36.101 version 13.6.1 Release 13)
  2. LTE; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); User Equipment (UE) radio transmission and reception (3GPP TS 36.101 version 14.5.0 Release 14)
  3. LTE; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); User Equipment (UE) radio transmission and reception (3GPP TS 36.101 version 15.3.0 Release 15)
  4. GSMA White Paper