| Term | Description |
A-bis | A-bis - Interface between the BSC and BTS in a GSM network
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A-interface | A-interface - Interface between the MSC and BSS in a GSM network
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A-TDMA | A-TDMA - Advanced Time Division Multiple Access
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A5/1/2/3/8X | A5/1/2/3/8X - Encryption algorithms for GSM networks
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AAL | AAL - ATM Adaptation Layer
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AB | AB - Access Burst; used for random access and characterised by a longer guard period to allow for burst transmission from a MS that does not know the correct timing advance when first contacting a network
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ABR | ABR - Available Bit Rate
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ACTE | ACTE - Approvals Committee for Terminal Equipment
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ACTS | ACTS - Advanced Communications Technologies and Services – a European technology initiative
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ACU | ACU - Antenna Combining Unit
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ADPCM | ADPCM - Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation; a form of voice compression that typically uses 32kbit/s
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Advice of charge | Advice of charge - A service which provides the user with information on the cost of calls from a mobile phone
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AFC | AFC - Automatic Frequency Control
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AGCH | AGCH - Access Grant Channel; downlink only, BTS allocates a TCH or SDCCH to the MS, allowing it access to the network
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Air interface | Air interface - In a mobile phone network, the radio transmission path between the base station and the mobile terminal
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Airtime | Airtime - The amount of time a subscriber spends using his/her mobile phone
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Alarm | Alarm - An alarm feature which can be set for a specific time and date or can used as a daily alarm.If the phone has a calendar feature, the alarm feature may be integrated with that (in some Motorola phones for example), so an alarm is simply a calendar event. Although some phones with a calendar feature also have a separate alarm feature.
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Alphanumeric Display | Alphanumeric Display - A display capable of containing letters and numbers, but not graphics.
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AM | AM - Amplitude Modulation
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AMPS | AMPS - Advanced Mobile Phone System, the analogue mobile phone technology used in North and South America and in around 35 other countries. Operates in the 800MHz band using FDMA technology
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AMR | AMR - Adaptive Multi-Rate codec. Developed in 1999 for use in GSM networks, the AMR has been adopted by 3GPP for 3G
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Analogue | Analogue - The representation of information by a continuously variable physical quantity such as voltage
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ANSI | ANSI - American National Standards Institute. An non-profit making US organisation which does not carry out standardisation work but reviews the work of standards bodies and assigns them category codes and numbers
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ANSI-136 | ANSI-136 - See D-AMPS
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AoC | AoC - Advice of Charge
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API | API - Application Program Interface
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ARIB | ARIB - Association of Radio Industries and Businesses. An organisation established by Japan’s Ministry of Posts and Communications to act as the standardisation authority for radio communication and broadcasting
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ARPU | ARPU - Average Revenue Per User
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ASCII | ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange
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ASIC | ASIC - Application Specific Integrated Circuit
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ASP | ASP - Application Service Provider
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Asymmetric Transmission | Asymmetric Transmission - Data transmissions where the traffic from the network to the subscriber is at a higher rate than the traffic from the subscriber to the network
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ATM | ATM - Asynchronous Transfer Mode; a multiplexed information transfer and switching method in which the data is organised into fixed length 53-octet cells and transmitted according to each application’s instantaneous need
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AUC | AUC - Authentication Centre; the element within a GSM network which generates the parameters for subscriber authentication
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