Wireless Communication Acronyms 101

AMPS

Advanced Mobile Phone System. The original cellular phone technology still in use today.

ARIB

Association of Radio Industries Business. A Japanese standardization body responsible for the development of next generation cellular systems for Japan.

CO

Central Office. A telephone company facility that houses the local switching equipment and serves as the place of termination for the wires from all telephones in a specified geographical area served by that telephone company.

ETSI

European Telecommunications Standardization Institute whose mission is to determine and produce the future telecommunications standards. The Institute is composed of over 650 members from 50 countries.

FDMA

Frequency Division Multiple Access. A data multiplexing method that allows only one subscriber to use a channel at any time.

GSM

Global System for Mobile Communications. A digital communications technology developed in the early 1980s which allows roaming throughout Europe.

IS-95

A North American interim standard for cellular telecommunications based on CDMA technology.

ITU

International Telecommunication Union, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland is an international organization within which governments and the private sector coordinate global telecom networks and services.

MSC

Mobile Switching Center, See MTSO.

MTSO

Mobile Telephone Switching Office, manages the routing of calls between cellular users and the PSTN.

PSTN

Public Switched Telephone Network. The collection of facilities and switches that provides connections between local, regional, and international telephone and telecommunications users.

TDMA

Time Division Multiple Access. A digital wireless technology, which allows more than one subscriber to use a channel by dividing the channel into framed time slots and allocating a slot to each subscriber.