Traffic Control for Roaming Subscribers

A method of controlling load within a cellular telecommunications network due to packet data traffic, the method comprising:

• receiving from the cellular telecommunications network an overload report that indicates an overload within said cellular telecommunications network and that identifies one or more peer cellular telecommunications networks as having roaming subscribers contributing to said overload;
• identifying one or more actions to be applied in said one or more peer networks based on inspection of a database containing inter-operator roaming agreements;
• and
• sending a notification to each of the one or more peer networks indicating the one or more identified actions to be applied.

An apparatus configured to provide central roaming agreement control to assist with controlling load within a cellular telecommunications network due to packet data traffic, the apparatus comprising:

• a database containing inter-operator roaming agreements;
• a receiver for receiving from said cellular telecommunications network an overload report that reports an overload within said cellular telecommunications network and that identifies one or more peer cellular telecommunications networks as having subscribers contributing to said overload;
• a decision unit configured to inspect said database to identify one or more actions to be applied in said one or more peer networks;
• and
• a sender configured to send a notification to each of the one or more peer networks indicating the one or more identified actions to be applied.

An access gateway for handling packet data traffic within a home cellular telecommunications network, the access gateway comprising:

• a packet data handler configured to handle packet data flows associated with subscribers of the home network currently roaming in a visited cellular telecommunications network;
• and
• a receiver for receiving a notification indicating that one or more of said roaming subscribers are contributing to an overload within the visited network and instructing the access gateway to apply one or more actions in the home network;
• wherein said packet data handler is further configured, in accordance with said notification, to cause a reduction in packet data traffic bandwidth available to said one or more roaming subscribers.