The certification defined by the "PCS Type Certification Review Board" (PTCRB) for the USA market is similar to the certification defined by GCF in Europe.
The purpose of the PTCRB is to provide the framework within which GSM Mobile Equipment (ME) or UMTS User Equipment (UE) Type Certification can take place for members of the PTCRB.
In order to certify your mobile phone or communication device to work with PTCRB operators' cellular network, your device should be PTCRB certified. This is to ensure and maintain compliance with GSM/GPRS/UMTS network standards within the operators' networks. Consequently, PTCRB operators may block devices from their network, if they are not PTCRB certified.
The test cases required by the two certifications, GCF and PTCRB, are almost the same, but they are executed respectively in the European frequency bands and in the US frequency bands.
Most of these test cases are specified within the standards:
3GPP TS 51.010-13GPP TS 34.121-13GPP TS 34.123-1(All of them freely available at www.3gpp.org)
GCF and PTCRB are quite challenging certifications, but they are important for the network operators as a proof of the quality of 2G and 3G telecommunication terminals.
