This article presents a compact broadband antenna made of Co2Y hexagonal ferrite (Ba2Co0.5Zn1.5Fe12O22) for GSM/DCS/PCS/UMTS. The proposed antenna has a minimized volume of 25 × 10 × 2 mm3 using a ferrite substrate with
= 12.5 (tan
= 0.005) and
= 4 (tan
= 0.15) at 850 MHz. Additionally, a T‐monopole and capacitively coupled strip are used for bandwidth enhancement. The antenna performance is characterized in terms of the reflection coefficient, gain, and radiation pattern. The measured fractional bandwidth at a voltage standing wave ratio ≤3 is 95.7% (823–2178 MHz), and the measured peak gain at the operating frequency bands is −6.67–4.25 dBi. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 56:2279–2282, 2014