TDMA technology, which stands for Time Division Multiple Access, is a cell phone standard that has been incorporated into the more advanced GSM standard, which is now the world's most widely used cell phone technology.

TDMA is used in second-generation (2G) cell phone systems such as GSM. Most major third-generation (3G) cell phone systems are primarily based upon GSM rival CDMA. 3G allows for faster data speeds over 2G.

While TDMA and CDMA both achieve the same goal, they do so using different methods. TDMA technology works by dividing each digital cellular channel into three time slots for the purpose of increasing the amount of data carried.

 

TDMA was first specified as a standard in EIA/TIA Interim Standard 54 (IS-54). IS-136, an evolved version of IS-54, is the United States standard for TDMA for both the cellular (850 MHz) and personal communications services (1.9 GHz) spectrums. TDMA is also used for Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT).