Communications system and method

Abstract

A mobile network comprises remote base transceiver station (BTS) nodes () linked with a central base station controller (BSC) node (). The latter is in turn linked with a mobile switching center (MSC,), a visitor location register (VLR,), and a home location register (HLR,). Mobile stations (, MS-A, MS-B, and MS-C) are located in the cells of the BTSs (). The remote nodes ((),()) are connected to the central node BSC () over a remote backhaul satellite connection. Calls are routed locally while the central nodes continue to manage calls and services from central feature-rich and typically more reliable switches of a core network. This means that calls set up between subscribers on the same remote node get connected within the remote node but call supervision is still carried out by the central nodes. The features and services of the existing core network are preserved. For example, if the calling subscriber is a pre-paid GSM subscriber and their account runs out during the call a release signal will still be sent from the central node to the remote even though the voice traffic is being handled by the remote node.