Definitions
PECN and PECS: the definitions that decide who is regulated
A PECN is a public electronic communications network; a PECS is a public electronic communications service. Between them, these two definitions from the Communications Act 2003 decide whether the Telecoms Security Act applies to your business at all.
Last reviewed 13 July 2026 · all sources linked in the text
The distinction in one paragraph
The network is the infrastructure that conveys signals; the service is what customers buy over it. A mobile operator provides both. A broadband reseller may provide a PECS over someone else's PECN. A business running connectivity purely for itself usually provides neither. The word doing the legal work is public: available to the public or a section of it, rather than a closed user group.
Almost certainly a PECN or PECS provider
- Fixed and mobile network operators
- Internet service providers selling to the public
- Wholesale network and access providers
- Public voice, messaging or connectivity service providers
- Full-fibre altnets and regional broadband builders
Usually outside the definitions
- Purely private or internal networks
- Businesses that only resell devices or handsets
- Over-the-top software services that do not convey signals
- IT providers with no communications conveyance role
The genuinely grey zone
- Resellers and MVNOs, depending on what they operate versus rebadge
- Managed connectivity bundled into wider IT services
- Wi-Fi and connectivity offered to the public as part of another business
- Wholesale-only arrangements with limited public exposure
The grey zone is where scoping mistakes cost real money in both directions. The statutory definitions live in the Communications Act as amended; how they apply to your specific services is a judgement worth making carefully, once.
Quick answers
PECN and PECS FAQs
What is a PECN?
A public electronic communications network: an electronic communications network provided wholly or mainly for making electronic communications services available to the public. In practice, the fixed, mobile and data networks the public and businesses rely on.
What is a PECS?
A public electronic communications service: an electronic communications service provided to the public, such as broadband, mobile or voice services. A business can be a PECS provider without owning much network of its own, which is exactly why the definitions need care.
Why do the definitions matter so much?
Because they are the gateway to everything else in the Telecoms Security Act: the security duties, the tiering system, the Code of Practice and Ofcom's powers all attach to providers of PECNs and PECSs. Get the scoping question wrong and you either carry obligations you have not planned for, or spend money complying with duties you do not owe.
Once scope is settled, the next question is which tier you sit in.
Settle the scoping question
Get a straight answer on whether you are in scope
Describe your services on a free 45 minute discovery call and leave knowing whether the Act applies, which tier you are in, and what that actually means.