cellular network

Any of the networks enabling mobile telephones to connect to the main telephone system. Originally established in the UK jointly by British Telecom and Securicor (as Cellnet), it consists of a number of adjacent cells, each containing a transmit/receive station connected to the main telephone network and reached by the mobile subscriber using a battery-operated portable radiotelephone. As subscribers move from one geographical cell to another (e.g. by car), they are automatically switched to receive signals from the new area.