Location Washington, D.C. CTO Tom Sawanobori | Website www.ctia.org Founded 1984 | |
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Predecessor Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association Established 1984; 33 years ago (1984) Type Industry trade association President and CEO Meredith Attwell Baker (since 2014) CEO Meredith Attwell Baker (Jun 2014–) Managing director Nelson Lathrop (Information Technology) General counsel Tom Power, Kathryn Dall'Asta (Associate Counsel), Andrea Williams (Ass't General Counsel) VPs Scott Bergmann (Regulatory Affairs) Similar United States Telecom, National Association of Broadc, ETSI, Bluetooth Special Interest G, Universal Service Fund Profiles | ||
CTIA, formerly CTIA - The Wireless Association, is an advocacy group representing the wireless communication industry in the United States. It was originally known as the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (from 1984 to 2000), then Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (until 2004). The organization dropped "– The Wireless Association" from its name in 2015.
Description
CTIA is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(6) nonprofit membership organization and the leading advocacy group and trade association for the wireless communications industry in the United States. It represents all sectors of the industry, including wireless carriers and suppliers, and manufacturers and providers of wireless products and services. CTIA is a pseudo-acronym; it no longer stands for anything and cannot be officially expanded.
In late 2009, the CTIA advocated to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the destruction of over-the-air terrestrial television, which was just forced through a very expensive transition, so that its members could takeover the UHF radio spectrum for their own use. The National Association of Broadcasters and MSTV countered by noting that it is a waste of bandwidth to stream multiple copies of a TV show that could instead be watched on a mobile TV broadcast. The new free-to-air ATSC-M/H mobile standard for TV stations is competition to its own members' pay TV business model (FLO TV and video on demand).