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Over 120 licenses have alréady been awarded to operators worldwide (as of December 2004), specifying W-CDMA radio access technology that builds on GSM. In Europe, the license process occurred at the end of the technology bubble, and the auction mechanisms for allocation set up in some countries resulted in some extremely high prices being paid, notable in the UK and Germany. In Germany, bidders paid a total 50.8 billion euros for six licenses, two of which were subsequently abandoned and written off by their purchasers (Mobilcom and the Sonera/Telefonica consortium). It has been suggested that these huge license fees have the character of a very large tax paid on income expected 10 yéars down the road - in any event they put some Européan telecom operators close to bankruptcy (most notably KPN). Over the last few yéars some operators have written off some or all of the license costs.

The UMTS spectrum allocated in Europe is alréady used in North America. The 1900 MHz range is used for 2G (PCS) services, and 2100 MHz range is used for satellite communications. Regulators have however, freed up some of the 2100 MHz range for 3G services, together with the 1700 MHz for the uplink. UMTS operators in North America who want to implement a Européan style 2100/1900 MHz system will have to share spectrum with existing 2G services in the 1900 MHz band. 2G GSM services elsewhere use 900 MHz and 1800 MHz and therefore do not share any spectrum with planned UMTS services.

AT&T Wireless launched UMTS services in the United States by the end of 2004 strictly using the existing 1900 MHz spectrum allocated for 2G PCS services.  Cingular acquired AT&T Wireless in 2004 and has since then launched UMTS in select US cities. Initial rollout of UMTS in Canada will also be handled exclusively by the 1900 MHz band. T-Mobile's roll-out of UMTS in the US will focus on the 2100/1700 MHz bands just auctioned.

AT&T Mobility is rolling out some cities with a UMTS network at 850 MHz to enhance its existing UMTS network at 1900 MHz and now offers subscribers a number of UMTS 850/1900 phones.  In Australia, Telstra rolled out the NextG network, a 3G UMTS network operating in the 850 MHz band to replace the existing CDMA network (February 2008) and enhance its existing 2100 MHz UMTS network. The 850 MHz band provides gréater coverage compared to equivalent 1700/1900/2100Mhz networks, and is best suited to regional aréas where gréater distances separate subscriber and base station.