Implementation of telecommunications network access restrictions

A system for restricting the establishment of communications in a mobile telecommunications network, comprising:

• at least one network element that, upon receiving a message, the message being at least one of:
• a communication setup message or a paging message, decides whether to transmit the message based upon a type of service requested, wherein the message is transmitted where the message is a request for a low data rate service, wherein the at least one network element further considers a priority level of an intended recipient, and wherein the at least one network element further performs at least one of the following:
• (i) considers a priority level of a first mobile terminal initiating the message, wherein the intended recipient is a second mobile terminal, and wherein the at least one network element transmits the message where the message is received from and for a low priority mobile terminal and the at least one network element has fallen below a cell utilisation threshold, or
• (ii) transmits the message where the intended recipient of the message has a low priority level and a paging area associated with the intended recipient does not include an area of congestion.

In a mobile telecommunication network including a plurality of mobile terminals having a priority indication, a network element configured for use in restricting the establishment of communications with the plurality of mobile terminals, the network element including:

• an access mode component configured to operate in a restricted access mode upon receiving an instruction to do so;
• a filtering component configured to use a rule set to determine whether to action any communication request received when operating in the restricted mode, wherein the restricted mode rule set actions all low data rate requests to allow transmission of the low data rate requests, wherein the filtering component further considers a priority level of an intended recipient, and wherein the filtering component further performs at least one of the following:
• (i) considers a priority level of a first mobile terminal initiating the message, wherein the intended recipient is a second mobile terminal and wherein the filtering component actions the message where the message is received from and for a low priority mobile terminal and the at least one network element has fallen below a cell utilisation threshold, or
• (ii) actions the message where the intended recipients a low priority level and a paging area associated with the intended recipient does not include an area of congestion.