BTA
Basic Trading Area
A geographic area of population and economic integration (several contiguous counties) defined by Rand McNally's Commercial Atlas.
The FCC used BTAs as the geographic boundaries for the PCS (1900 Mhz) radio frequency (spectrum) licenses that were auctioned in the mid-1990s.
Some parts of the PCS band were auctioned as MTAs (Metropolitan Trading Areas,) each of which consists of several BTAs.
Other bands, such as the cellular (800/850 MHz) band, use MSA and RSA geographic divisions instead.
