VERFAHREN ZUR ÜBERTRAGUNG EINES MOBILEN-NETZWERK CODES VARIABLER LÄNGE

A method of communicating a variable length mobile network code (MNC) from a mobile communications network to a mobile station is provided. The method comprises transmitting a message comprising at least one of a first field and a second field, wherein the first field indicates whether the MNC is greater than a fixed length (2 digits). The first field further indicates whether the second field is included in the message. In a further embodiment, said message contains a mobile network code (MNC) of a fixed length and a further information identifying if the MNC exceeds said length and in this case transmitting a further value representing the missing part of the MNC. In still a further embodiment, the MNC is extracted from an IMSI identifying a mobile station, wherein a further message indicates whether the MNC exceeds a fixed length and in this case the exceeding part of said MNC is transmitted in a further field of the IMSI.