Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)

The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) creates standards, which are accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), for a wide variety of telecommunications products. TIA’s Standards and Technology Department is divided into ten technology areas, which sponsor more than 70 standards formulating groups.

The technology areas are:

• Mobile private radio
• Steel antenna towers
• Multi function peripheral devices
• Satellites
• User premises equipment
• Premises cabling (both copper and fiber)
• Mobile communications systems
• Terrestrial mobile multimedia multicast
• Vehicular telematics
• Healthcare

Engineering committees and subcommittees represent each area and formulate standards to serve the industry and users. More than 1,000 individuals, representing manufacturers, service providers and end users, including the government, serve on the formulating groups involved in standards setting.

TIA also participates in international standards-setting activities, such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

The TIA standards cover a wide spectrum of topics, including:

• Cellular systems
• Emergency systems (E-911)
• Fiber optics
• Modems
• Personal communications services (PCS)
• Satellite
• Surveillance
• VoIP (Voice over Internet protocol)

The TIA standards are grouped by topic:

• Point-to-point communications systems
• Multimedia access, protocols and interfaces
• Satellite equipment and systems
• User Premises telecommunications requirements
• Telecommunications cabling systems
• Mobile and personal communications systems standards
• Terrestrial mobile multimedia multicast
• Mobile and personal private radio standards