New Nokia 3310 Won’t Work in the U.S., HMD Global Still In Talks With Carriers

The much awaited and revamped Nokia 3310 was recently launched at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017 in Barcelona, Spain for $50. However, residents of the United States, Canada and Australia waiting to grab the HMD reincarnation of the Nokia 3310 may not be able to do so.
According to CNET, the new Nokia 3310, which is made by HMD Global Oy, will be supporting only two bands – 900MHz and 1,800MHz, which are only compatible with the 2G connections. In many countries, those frequencies have been switched off while few others are gradually switching it off as regulators shut off unused frequencies. This is applicable for Australia and Singapore, where carriers are  shutting down 900MHz and 1800MHz bands.
The new 3310 handsets must support at least four bands, including 850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz and 1900MHz to operate across the globe without any restrictions.

So, for now, the Nokia 3310 might only work in countries that support GSM 900 MHz and 1800 MHz that is Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. But networks in North, Central and South America primarily use 850 MHz and 1900 MHz – frequencies that the 3310 won’t be able to connect to, and so won’t be able to receive any information from.
However, the good news is HMD Global is going to bring the new Nokia 3310 to the U.S. at some point.

“It’s not that we’re not launching in the U.S.,” HMD Global’s head of global marketing Patrick Mercanton said. “It’s that the U.S. takes a little bit longer to ramp up.”
HMD says it’s been in talks with U.S. carriers at the MWC show, about selling Nokia-branded phones like the 3310.
“We’ll probably end with the U.S. at some point,” Mercanton added. “It’s definitely on our radar… we want to go into the US because we want to have a global launch.”
The Nokia 3310 is slated to be released during the second quarter (April-June) of 2017 with the modest price tag of $50. But for the U.S., it might arrive at a later date.