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CHAPTER SEVEN
North American TDMA
While GSM was the second-generation digital cellular system that was introduced within Europe
initially, another development took place in the USA. There were different requirements, and as
a result the system, although digital and using Time-Division Multiple Access (TDMA) techniques,
is very different.
The FCC had indicated that no new frequency allocations were to be made to accommodate
a new cellular system. Therefore, with a very heavy investment in AMPS technology which had
been deployed over vast areas of the USA, there was a need to en sure that any digital system
that was developed was as compatible as possible with AMPS. In view of this, the system
was designed to use the existing AMPS channels so that