Paging in a cellular communication system

A cellular communication system comprises a user equipment (101) which is arranged to transmit control channel messages to a network (103) of the communication system. When a message is transmitted, the user equipment (101) enters an active monitoring mode for a time interval after which it returns to the power-down mode. The user equipment (101) monitors a paging channel when in the active monitoring mode but not in all paging cycles when in the power-down mode. The network (103) is arranged to transmit paging messages in response to a detection of the control channel message from the user equipment (101). The invention may allow a much longer power-down interval thereby reducing power consumption and increasing battery life. The approach may be particularly suitable for machine-to-machine communications.