A wireless communications network and method of operation thereof

A wireless communication network comprises a plurality of sites or cells 102-114 each served by a node or base station 116-128. The nodes 116-128 are connected with other elements of the network infrastructure. At least one of the sites 102, served by node 116, has a first control channel 140 having a range RCC, whilst the other sites 104-114 do not have control channels. The network infrastructure is able to use the first control channel 140 to direct a mobile station 130 located in a site without a control channel 114 to a traffic channel 142 of the node 128 serving the site 114. The network infrastructure may determine the geographic location of the mobile station 130, e.g. via GPS, to identify which node 116-128 should provide the traffic channel 142 to the mobile station 130.