Telecommunications industry suppliers had long used quality standards based primarily on the Bellcore and Western Electric systems and standards. Most US-based telecom service providers originated in AT&T and became independent in 1984 Bell regional break up. They did not enforce the quality requirements in a consistent manner in supply contracts, and often included their own requirements for conformance.

The burden on suppliers was overwhelming. Overlapping quality standards and audits were confusing, and escalated the cost of doing business on a global scale. Harmonizing all of these disparate quality system standards requirements was a primary goal of the QuEST Forum.

The QuEST Forum sought to develop and maintain a single common set of worldwide telecom quality management system requirements that built on existing industry standards and practices.

In its initial research, the QuEST Forum analyzed similar worldwide efforts by the automotive and aerospace industries to develop sector-specific requirements using ISO 9000 as a baseline. ISO 9000, developed in 1987, describes a quality management system with documentation methodology and an internal auditing system. For its purposes, the QuEST Forum decided on a more inclusive approach, involving both network operators and suppliers in developing the TL 9000 standard.