iPhone 5 LTE Will Only Work on 20 Carriers Worldwide

[Maura]

Much was made yesterday of the fact that Apple had ensured that the iPhone 5 would have worldwide LTE network compatability, rather than just in the US, as was famously the case with the new iPad when it launched earlier in the year. However, as several websites are now pointing out, including Pocket-Lint, in the UK lots of iPhone 5 owners will miss out on LTE simply because they’re on the “wrong” carrier. Currently there are no 4G LTE networks in the UK, although EE’s one will go live before Christmas, for those on Orange and T-Mobile. However, Pocket-Lint writes that even when Vodafone and O2 get their 4G networks up and running next year, the iPhone 5 will not work on them, simply because it’s not on the right band, with Ofcom only planning to release 800MHz and 2.6GHz for 4G. Three customers will be luckier, however, as Three has acquired some of EE’s capacity, which the iPhone 5 will work on.

Also commenting on this story, PhoneArena says that there are only 20 carriers around the world on which iPhone 5 owners will actually be able to use LTE, with only 25% of LTE in Europe operating on 800MHz and 2,600MHz.

Source: http://www.phonearena.com/news/On-w...ds-and-why-Europe-was-hung-out-to-dry_id34450
iPhone 5 won't work on O2 or Vodafone's 4G networks - Pocket-lint