As the virtual centre of excellence in mobile and personal communications (Mobile VCE) moves into its second core research programme it has been decided to set up a fourth generation (4G) visions group aimed at harmonising the research work across the work areas and amongst the numerous researchers working on the programme. This paper outlines the initial work of the group and provides a start to what will become an evolving vision of 4G. A short history of previous generations of mobile communications systems and a discussion of the limitations of third generation (3G) systems are followed by a vision of 4G for 2010 based on five elements: fully converged services, ubiquitous mobile access, diverse user devices, autonomous networks and software dependency. This vision is developed in more detail from a technology viewpoint into the key areas of networks and services, software systems and wireless access.