Embodiments of the present invention relate to the coordination of group calls involving mobile terminals in
telecommunications networks. In one aspect, embodiments of the invention provide a method of managing a group call involving a plurality of mobile communications devices, said plurality of mobile communications devices being registered with a
telecommunications network via a serving node, the serving node being operable to transceive data to and from a plurality of
radio access nodes so as to communicate with said registered mobile communications devices, in which at least a first of said
radio access nodes has established a data communications channel with a mobile communications device of the plurality for conducting the group call, the method comprising: identifying a
radio access node adjacent the first radio access node; defining the Group Call Area on basis of the first and adjacent radio access nodes; and establishing a signalling channel within a
cell corresponding to said adjacent radio access node, said signalling channel having an identifier corresponding to the Group Call Area. The radio access nodes, or base stations, that have established a data communications channel with the mobile communications device have traffic and signalling channels established therein and are marked as an
active cell of the Group Call Area; according to embodiments of the invention, base stations adjacent the active
base station are added to the Group Call Area and signalling channels are established in these adjacent cells. Each signalling channel has an identifier corresponding to the Group Call Area. This method of channel allocation and deallocation provides a solution to the problem in the prior art in which channels have to be created as a
mobile station moves into a new
cell; by contrast, and because a signalling channel in any potential “next”
cell has already been established, it is relatively straightforward to allocate a
traffic channel therein.