The Telecommunications Glossary is an official document of the federal government, referred to as Federal Standard 1037C.

The terms and accompanying definitions contained in this standard are drawn from authoritative non-Government sources such as the International Telecommunication Union, the International Organization for Standardization, the Telecommunications Industry Association, and the American National Standards Institute, as well as from numerous authoritative U.S. Government publications. The FTSC Subcommittee to Revise FED-STD-1037B has rewritten many definitions as deemed necessary either to reflect technology advances or to make those definitions that were phrased in specialized terminology more understandable to a broader audience.