Even thought LTE technology itself defines 6 different types system bandwidth, not all E-UTRA Band can support all of the 6 bandwidth. The type of bandwidth supported varies depending of E-UTRA band as defined in 36.521-1 as shown below.

Three questions follow from that. What the table below actually says, why a band cannot carry every bandwidth, and how much of the table still holds. The sections below take them in that order.

• Which bandwidths does each band support ?
• Why does a band not carry every bandwidth ?
• What has changed since that table was published ?
• Reference

Which bandwidths does each band support ?

The table below is a reproduction, and its own caption carries the source and the version it was taken from. Read it as a lookup. Pick a band in the left column, and the six columns beside it say which channel bandwidths the specification allows there.

< [36.521-1 V15.2.0] - Table 5.4.2.1-1: E-UTRA channel bandwidth >

• Fifty-one bands are listed. Band 64 is the exception: it is marked Reserved and carries no bandwidths at all, which leaves fifty rows to read.
• 5 MHz and 10 MHz are the near-universal pair. Each is allowed on 48 of those fifty bands, and only bands 46 and 47 lack them.
• The narrow bandwidths are the rare ones. 1.4 MHz appears on 16 bands and 3 MHz on 18, so two thirds of the table cannot carry the narrowest LTE carrier.
• The wide ones are less common as well. 15 MHz is allowed on 35 bands and 20 MHz on 31.
• Nine bands carry all six: 2, 3, 4, 23, 25, 35, 36, 65 and 66. Everywhere else the reader has to check.
• Three cells carry a small number beside the Yes, on bands 38, 39 and 68. Those are footnote markers, and the last section on this page gives the notes they point at.

• Band first, bandwidth second : the table is a lookup, and a bandwidth that is legal on one band may not exist on the next.
• 5 and 10 MHz are the safe assumption : 48 of the fifty usable rows allow both, which is why they appear in almost every deployment.
• The narrow carriers are the exception : 1.4 MHz reaches only 16 bands, so a design that depends on it has to name the bands it will run in.
• A Yes with a number beside it is conditional : three cells in this table carry one, and the note it points at narrows what the Yes means.

Why does a band not carry every bandwidth ?

The first reason is arithmetic rather than policy. An operating band is a range of frequencies with two edges, and a carrier has to fit between them. A band narrower than a carrier cannot hold that carrier at all.

36.101 Table 5.5-1 gives those edges for every band. Band 13 runs 777 to 787 MHz on the uplink and 746 to 756 MHz on the downlink, so it is 10 MHz wide. The table below allows it 5 MHz and 10 MHz and nothing more. Band 7 is 70 MHz wide and carries all of 5, 10, 15 and 20.

That rule holds across the whole specification. Compare every band's width against the widest bandwidth it is allowed, and one apparent exception appears. Band 70 has a 15 MHz uplink allocation while the table lists 20 MHz.

The specification answers that itself. Band 70's 20 MHz entry carries footnote 4, and note 4 restricts the 20 MHz requirements to operation with carrier aggregation configured. That band's uplink and downlink are not the same width, which is what makes the entry possible.

Width is the hard limit, and it is not the only one. A band may also be narrowed by what the regulator allocated, by what the incumbent service beside it will tolerate, and by whether any operator asked for that combination. 36.101 lists the combinations for which its requirements apply, and a combination nobody brought to 3GPP does not appear.

• A carrier has to fit inside its band : band 13 is 10 MHz wide and stops at 10 MHz, while band 7 is 70 MHz wide and reaches 20.
• The rule holds everywhere but one row : band 70 lists 20 MHz against a 15 MHz uplink, and footnote 4 ties that entry to carrier aggregation.
• Uplink and downlink need not be equally wide : the narrower of the two is what bounds an ordinary carrier.
• The table records requirements, not possibilities : 36.101 says its requirements apply to the combinations shown, so a combination nobody asked for is simply absent.

What has changed since that table was published ?

The caption dates the table, which makes the question answerable. Comparing it against the current release gives a reassuring answer for the rows that are there, and a list of rows that are not.

No row in the table above has changed. Every band it lists still allows exactly the same set of channel bandwidths in 36.101 v20.0.0, and band 64 is still Reserved. What has changed is the number of rows.

Thirteen bands have been added. The table below lists them with the bandwidths the current specification allows on each.

Bands added to 36.101 Table 5.6.1-1 since the version quoted above. Yes carries the same meaning as in that table.

• None of the thirteen reaches 20 MHz except bands 49, 50, 52 and 74. Most are narrow additions.
• Band 106 is the narrowest entry in the whole table, allowing 1.4 MHz and 3 MHz and nothing else.
• Band 103 belongs to the current table and has no bandwidths at all. Note 7 explains it: the band is for standalone NB-IoT operation only, and none of the E-UTRA standard channel bandwidths applies.

One difference is presentational rather than technical. The current table marks a great many cells with footnote references, while the table above marks three. This page cannot settle whether those markers were absent from the 36.521-1 V15.2.0 source or were lost when the table was copied. Either way, the notes the markers point at are worth having. The two that do appear above are 3 on bands 38 and 39 and 5 on band 68, and both land on the same cells in the current release.

• Note 1 marks a bandwidth for which a relaxation of the specified UE receiver sensitivity requirement is allowed.
• Note 2 restricts the 20 MHz minimum requirements to uplink carrier frequencies confined to two named sub-ranges.
• Note 3 marks a bandwidth whose uplink transmission bandwidth the network may restrict for some channel assignments.
• Note 4 restricts the 20 MHz minimum requirements to operation with carrier aggregation configured.
• Note 5 restricts the 15 MHz minimum requirements to named uplink carrier frequencies.
• Note 6 does the same for 20 MHz on another band.
• Note 7 marks a band that is for standalone NB-IoT operation only.

• The table above is still correct for the bands it lists : every row in it matches the current 36.101 on which bandwidths are allowed.
• It is short by thirteen bands : 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 73, 74, 85, 87, 88, 106 and 111 have been added since.
• One band in the current table allows nothing : band 103 is standalone NB-IoT only, so no E-UTRA channel bandwidth applies to it.
• A footnote can narrow a Yes to almost nothing : note 4 ties an entire 20 MHz entry to carrier aggregation being configured.

Reference

[1] 36.101 : 3GPP - E-UTRA; User Equipment radio transmission and reception, v20.0.0. Table 5.5-1 gives the operating band edges, Table 5.6.1-1 gives the channel bandwidths allowed on each band, and the seven notes under it are quoted above.

[2] 36.521-1 : 3GPP - E-UTRA; User Equipment conformance specification; Radio transmission and reception; Part 1. Table 5.4.2.1-1 of V15.2.0 is the source of the table above, as its caption says. That version was not re-read here; the comparison above is against 36.101.