Patent ID: 8275379

Claim:
A method of handling handover of a mobile terminal in a mobile communications network, the communications network comprising a cellular radio access network and a core network, the handover from a source cell served by a source Mobile Switching Centre to a target cell or node served by a target Mobile Switching Centre, the method comprising: at a Handover Routing Router, receiving a request for handover from the source Mobile Switching Centre; at the Handover Routing Router, determining from the request an identity of the target cell or node, thereby obviating the need for the source Mobile Switching Centre to make such a determination; at the Handover Routing Router, mapping the identity of the target cell or node to an address of the target Mobile Switching Centre, wherein the identity of the target cell or node is mapped to an address of the target Mobile Switching Centre using a Handover Routing Table, the Handover Routing Table containing data identifying cells, Radio Access Controller nodes, and Mobile Switching Centres in the core network; forwarding the request for handover from the Handover Routing Router to the target Mobile Switching Centre; at the source Mobile Switching Centre, determining whether a Mobile Switching Centre is defined in the Handover Routing Table for the target cell or node identifier; if no Mobile Switching Centre is defined in the Handover Routing Table, sending the request for handover to the Handover Routing Router; and wherein the communications network has a full mesh Mobile Switching Centre configuration.