"TACS" redirects here. For other meanings of "TACS" or "Tacs", see Tacs.
A first-generation Motorola 4500X transportable phone (a hybrid between car phone and mobile phone) for the TACS network, c.1987
Total Access Communication System (TACS) was an analoguecellular (1G) telephone system. It was a variant of the Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), developed by the British state with partners and deployed throughout the United Kingdom from 1985. The system operated domestically in the 900 MHz UHF radio spectrum band.
The Motorola Personal Phone (released 1992) on top of its packaging, an ETACS mobile phone
An upgraded variant named Extended Total Access Communication System (ETACS) was deployed in 1989 which opened up more spectrum to increase capacity and reduce network overcrowding in busy areas. Outside of Britain the TACS system was also used at one point in other countries including Austria, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland and Spain, as well as in Japan under the name Japanese Total Access Communication (JTAC). TACS was made obsolete by 2G systems like GSM and has been shut down worldwide.
History
It was announced as the choice for the first two British national cellular systems in February 1983, less than a year after the UK government announced the T&Cs for the two competing mobile phone networks in June 1982. Vodafone (known then as Racal-Vodafone) opted for a £30 million turnkey contract from Ericsson (ERA) to design, build and set up its initial network of 100 base station sites.
Vodafone used CMS8810 equipment designed by Ericsson some of which was made under licence by Racal Carlton Nottingham
Cellnet (then known Telecom Securicor Cellular Radio Ltd) used development labs in the facilities at General Electric (later made part of Motorola) based at Lynchburg, Virginia, United States. The reason Cellnet used the General Electric labs was because the AMPS system was already in development there, and the company had set up a production facility in readiness for AMPS production in 1985 which the Cellnet TACS was to share.[citation needed] In March 1984 development of prototypes began at General Electric. Production began in 1985 and General Electric produced 20,000 systems that year for Cellnet's distribution in the UK. Production of what was to become the Motorola model were then made at Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England. This production facility continued making TACS until the advent of GSM.[citation needed]
TACS and ETACS are now obsolete in Europe, having been replaced by the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) system. In the United Kingdom, the last ETACS service operated by Vodafone was discontinued on 31 May 2001, after 16 years of service. The competing service in the UK operated by Cellnet (latterly BT Cellnet) was closed on Sunday 1 October 2000.[citation needed] In Italy, the ETACS service remained live as far as 2005.
Eircell (now Vodafone Ireland) closed its TACS network on 26 January 2001.[citation needed] This followed a long period during which customers were encouraged to switch to GSM services. When the network was closed, there were very few, if any, active TACS customers left. Customers who switched network were able to keep their phone number, but the (088) prefix was changed to either 087 (Eircell, now Vodafone Ireland) GSM or 086 (Esat Digifone, which became O2 Ireland before merging with Three) GSM. At the time, full mobile number portability was not available to TACS customers and the (088) prefix was closed. An automatic voice message was left in place for 12 months advising callers of the customer's new prefix.[citation needed]
Frequency bands used by ETACS in the UK
Channel
Cell TX (MHz)
Mobile TX (MHz)
Notes
1
935.0125
890.0125
25kHz spaced channels
23
935.5625
890.5625
1st of 21 dedicated vodafone control channels
24
935.5650
890.5650
2nd of 21 dedicated vodafone control channels
300
942.4875
898.0625
9.5kHz peak speech fm deviation
323
943.0625
898.0625
1st of 21 dedicated cellnet control channels
600
949.9875
904.9875
Last TACS channel, ETACS extended this to 1320 later
TACS BAND Summary
Base TX Start
End (MHz)
Mobile start
End (MHz)
Band
935
950
890
905
TACS 600 Channels
935
960
890
915
TACS 1000 Channels
917
950
872
905
E-TACS 1320 Channels
ESNs were issued in batches of 65535 by BABT for phone manufacturers to program into each cellular phone to make each one unique to the TACS network with which it attempted to register.
The following countries had more than two batches of ESNs allocated to them: UK, Italy, Austria, China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Australia.
↑Barnes, David M (May 1985). The Introduction of Cellular Radio to the United Kingdom. Vehicular Technology Conference, 1985. 35th. pp.147–152. doi:10.1109/VTC.1985.1623346.
↑Mueling, John; Jeans, Richard (1994). The Mobile Phone Book. CommunicationsWeek International. p.92. ISBN978-0952403104.
