The underlying standard is known as Digital Cellular System, which defines a variant of GSM operating at 1.7–1.88 GHz.
The PCN system was first initiated by Lord Young, UK Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, in 1988.
The main characteristics of PCN are as follows: The UK government's Department for Enterprise produced 'Phones on the Move: Personal Communications in the 1990s - a discussion document[permanent dead link]' in January 1989.
The document presented a vision for how mobile communications might develop which outlined ideas for both the PCNs and the CT2 standards.
PCN is comparable to the North American Personal Communications Service band allocation.