802.11a is a set of specs utilized to provide networking and wireless communication features. It was an ammendment the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 wireless networking standard which increased the throughput to 54 Mbit/s. 802.11a uses the 5 GHz band to achieve the higher throughput. It gained widespread worldwide implementation.
The 802.11a version of 802.11 wireless standard hit some regulatory snags within the European Union which was close to using the HiperLAN standard for wireless networking. Approval was granted quickly in the United States and Japan, but not until 2002 in the European Union.
