I've got email from a bunch of you who went off to the USA for the winter holidays and you came back with some great mobile devices. You purchased those smartphones and tablets during the after holiday sales in America. You even tried out the devices while you were there and they were working well. Unfortunately, now in Saudi Arabia you can't access a 4G connection with those same devices and you're wondering what is wrong. Welcome to the global debacle of multiple 4G LTE spectrum bands. Saudi Gazette called on John Strand, the CEO of Denmark-headquartered Strand Consult for an answer to this issue. “Regarding LTE/4G – the answer is simple. Around the world you are using different spectrum for different technology. It all started back in the ‘old' days where Europe had GSM in 900/1800 Mhz and where the US were using 800/1900 Mhz for GSM,” explained Strand. “What you can say is that the world is split into a number of regions and in each region different spectrum bands are used for different technology.” The LTE spectrum bands allocated in Saudi Arabia are 1800, 2300 and 2600 Mhz. The LTE spectrum bands in the USA are 700, 1700, 1900 and 2100 Mhz. If a smartphone or tablet works on 4G in the USA, it won't work in Saudi Arabia and vice versa. If a phone or tablet can't detect a suitable LTE 4G connection, it automatically drops to HSPA+ 3G. There isn't any smartphone that consumers can buy right now that can promise to work on all 4G networks on Earth. Some handsets are marketed as global 4G phones. What that means is that they try to work in every country with at least one operator - not that the phone will work with every telecom operator everywhere. Saudi Arabia's telecoms ran into trouble in regards to LTE because the government is using the spectrum bands common in North America. Zain's 1800 LTE band is popular in Africa, Asia and Europe. Mobily uses the 2600 band similar to some operators in Europe, Asia and Canada. Right now, Saudi Telecom is at the greatest disadvantage with its 2300 band, only found in a few places such as Australia, India and Sri Lanka. That will change soon though as what is known as TD-LTE on the 2300 band is being rolled out by China Mobile, the world's largest mobile operator. “If people buy a phone in the US they will only be able to use 2G and 3G in Saudi Arabia” noted Strand. “I do not believe that consumers will experience a big difference when they use their phones to surf the Internet. The difference is if the phone is used as a modem for a laptop. For just surfing, downloading emails and streaming YouTube on a phone, the end-user experience on a smartphone will not change much from 3G to LTE 4G.” That's something to keep in mind if you're considering upgrading to a more expensive LTE connection and may be some consolation for consumers whose devices won't work with the Kingdom's 4G networks. Strand added that the situation is about to improve in terms of which 4G devices are made available to Saudi consumers. “Today the US is the biggest market for LTE products but that will change this year,” he said with a smile. “The new products that will come on the market will come first with European/Asian specs. It is the old history from GSM/2G there to repeat itself again.”
