A geographic metro area of population and economic integration defined by Rand McNally's Commercial Atlas.
The FCC used the 51 U.S. MTAs as the boundaries for the PCS (1900 Mhz) radio frequency (spectrum) licenses that were auctioned in the mid-1990s.
Other bands, such as the cellular (800/850 MHz) band, use MSA and RSA geographic divisions instead.
Each MTA consists of several Basic Trading Areas (BTAs) which are several contiguous counties.