1. A radio access network portion of a telecommunications network, the radio access network being connecting to a core network and serving a mobile station, the radio access network portion comprising: plural base stations serving respective plural cells; plural control nodes including a first control node for controlling a first group of the plural base stations and a second control node for controlling a second group of the plural base stations; wherein a multicell area includes cells served by at least some of the first group of base stations and cells served by at least some of the second group of base stations; a paging control node which stores information regarding the multicell area whereby, when the mobile station is paged in the multicell area, the paging control node sends a paging message to at least one of the control nodes which controls base stations serving cells in the multicell area.

2. The network of claim 1, wherein the control node to which the paging control node sends a paging message stores a list of cells controlled thereby and which are included in the multicell area.

3. The network of claim 1 , wherein the control node to which the paging control node sends a paging message transmits to at least portions of plural multicell areas, wherein each of the plural multicell areas is assigned a layer parameter, and wherein the layer parameter is transmitted with the paging message to the cells on the list.

4. The network of claim 3, wherein the layer parameter is assigned to a multicell area by the paging control node, wherein the first control node and the second control node are connected by an inter-control node link, and wherein the layer parameter is transmitted over the inter-control node link.

5. The network of claim 1, wherein the paging control node is one of the control nodes.

7. The network of claim 1, wherein a page of the mobile station is initiated by the core network and wherein the multicell area is a location area comprising plural cells.

8. The network of claim 1, wherein the mobile station subscribes to a packet switched service, wherein a page of the mobile station is initiated by the radio access network, and wherein the multicell area is a routing area.

9. The network of claim 1, wherein the core network does not know how the multicell area is defined

10. The network of claim 1, wherein the page is from the core network and is initiated by a mobile switching center, and wherein the page includes an indication of the multicell area for the mobile station

11. A radio access network portion of a telecommunications network, the radio access network being connecting to a core network and serving a mobile station, the radio access network portion comprising: plural base stations serving respective plural cells; a first radio network control node for controlling a first group of the plural base stations; a second radio network control node for controlling a second group of the plural base stations; wherein a multicell area includes cells served by at least some of the first group of base stations and cells served by at least some of the second group of base stations; wherein, to page the mobile station in the multicell area, the first radio network control node issues a paging message (1) to those base stations in the first group belonging to the multicell area and (2) to the second radio network control node.

13. The network of claim 11, wherein the second radio network control node sends a paging message transmits to at least portions of plural multicell areas, wherein each of the plural multicell areas is assigned a layer parameter, and wherein the layer parameter transmitted with the paging message to the cells on the list

14. The network of claim 11, wherein the first radio network control node and the second radio network control node are connected by an inter-radio network control node link, and wherein the paging message is sent from the first radio network control node to the second radio network control node over the inter-radio network control node link

15. The network of claim 11 , wherein a page of the mobile station is initiated by the core network and wherein the multicell area is a location area comprising plural cells

16. The network of claim 11, wherein the mobile station subscribes to a packet switched service, wherein a page of the mobile station is initiated by the radio access network, and wherein the multicell area is a routing area

17. The network of claim 11 , wherein the core network does not know how the multicell area is defined

18. The network of claim 11 , wherein the page is from the core network and is initiated by a mobile switching center, and wherein the page includes an indication of the multicell area for the mobile station

19. The network of claim 11, wherein when a paging response message responsive to the paging message is received from the second radio network control node, the first radio network control node issues a moveover request message to the 29 core network for changing control of the connection with the mobile station from the first radio network control node to the second radio network control node.

20. The network of claim 19, wherein after the core network changes control of the connection with the mobile station from the first radio network control node to the second radio network control node, the second radio network control node sends the paging response message to the core network.

21. A radio access network portion of a telecommunications network, the radio access network being connecting to a core network and serving a mobile station, the radio access network comprising: plural base stations serving respective plural cells; a first radio network control node for controlling a first group of the plural base stations; a second radio network control node for controlling a second group of the plural base stations; an inter-radio network control link connecting the first radio network control node and the second radio network control node, and wherein the inter-radio network control link carries at least one of a (1) paging message and (2) a response to a paging message.

22. The network of claim 21 , wherein a multicell area includes cells served by at least some of the first group of base stations and cells served by at least some of the second group of base stations; and wherein, when the core network desires to page the mobile station in the multicell area, the first radio network control node issues a paging message (A) to those base stations in the first group belonging to the multicell area and (B) to the second radio network control node, the paging message (B) being carried over the inter-radio network control link.

23. The network of claim 21, wherein the second radio network control node maintains a list of cells controlled thereby and which are included in the multicell area, and wherein the second radio network control node sends a paging message to the cells on the list.

25. The network of claim 21, wherein when the response to a paging message is received from the second radio network control node, the first radio network control node issues a moveover request message to the core network for changing control of the connection with the mobile station from the first radio network control node to the second radio network control node.

26. The network of claim 25, wherein after the core network changes control of the connection with the mobile station from the first radio network control node to the second radio network control node, the second radio network control node sends the response to the paging message to the core network.

27 6. The network of claim 1 , wherein the first control node and the second control node are connected by an inter-control node link, and wherein the paging message is sent from the first control node to the second control node over the inter-control node link.

27. A method of operating a telecommunications network which comprises a radio access network being connected to a core network, the radio access network including plural base stations serving respective plural cells and plural control nodes including a first control node for controlling a first group of the plural base stations and a second control node for controlling a second group of the plural base stations; the method comprising: receiving a paging message at a paging control node of the radio access network, the paging message referring to a multicell area, the multicell area including cells served by at least some of a first group of base stations and cells served by at least some of a second group of base stations; using the paging control node to send a paging message to at least one of the control nodes which controls base stations serving cells in the multicell area.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising: storing at the control node to which the paging control node sends a paging message a list of cells controlled thereby and which are included in the multicell area; transmitting the paging message from the control node to which the paging control node sends the paging message to base stations serving the cells on the list.

28 12. The network of claim 11, wherein the second radio network control node maintains a list of cells controlled thereby and which are included in the multicell area, and wherein the second radio network control node sends a paging message to the cells on the list

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the paging control node is one of the control nodes.

30 24. The network of claim 21 , wherein the second radio network control node sends a paging message transmits to at least portions of plural multicell areas, wherein each of the plural multicell areas is assigned a layer parameter, and wherein the layer parameter transmitted with the paging message to the cells on the list.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein the plural control nodes include a first control node and a second control node, and wherein the paging control node is one of the first radio network control node and the second radio network control node.

31 29. The method of claim 28, wherein the control node to which the paging control node sends the paging message transmits to at least portions of plural multicell areas, and wherein the method further comprises: assigning to each of the plural multicell areas is assigned a layer parameter, and transmitting the layer parameter with the paging message to the base stations serving the cells on the list.

32 37. The method of claim 27, further comprising returning a paging response message from the at least one of the control nodes to the paging control node.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the first control node and the second control node are connected by an inter-control node link, and wherein the paging message is sent from the first control node to the second control node over the inter- control node link.

33. The method of claim 27, further comprising initiating a page of the mobile station by the core network, and wherein the multicell area is a location area comprising plural cells.

33 42. A method of operating a radio access network portion of a telecommunications network, the radio access network being connecting to a core network and serving a mobile station, the radio access network portion comprising plural base stations serving respective plural cells and a radio network control node for controlling the plural base stations, the method comprising: defining, with respect to the plural cells, a first multicell area and a second multicell area; associating, at the radio network control node, a first layer parameter with the first multicell area and a second layer parameter with the second multicell area; sending from the radio network control node a paging message with respect to a paged mobile station, the paging message including both a mobile station identifier and a layer parameter appropriate for the mobile station.

34. The method of claim 27, wherein the mobile station subscribes to a packet switched service, wherein a page of the mobile station is initiated by the radio access network, and wherein the multicell area is a routing area.

35. The method of claim 27, wherein the core network does not know how the multicell area is defined.

36. The method of claim 27, further comprising initiating the page from the core network, and further comprising including in the page an indication of the multicell area for the mobile station.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising, when the paging response message is received, issuing from the paging node a moveover request message to the core network for changing control of the connection with the mobile station from the paging control node to the one of the at least one of the control nodes to which the mobile station responded.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein after the core network changes control of the connection with the mobile station, the one of the at least one of the control nodes to which the mobile station responded sends the paging response message to the core network.

40. A method of operating a telecommunications network which comprises a radio access network being connected to a core network, the radio access network including plural base stations serving respective plural cells and plural control nodes including a first control node for controlling a first group of the plural base stations and a second control node for controlling a second group of the plural base stations; one of the plural control nodes initially handling a connection between the core network and a mobile station engaged in a packet switched service, the method comprising: receiving a paging message for the mobile station at a paging control node of the radio access network, the paging message referring to a multicell area, the multicell area including cells served by at least some of a first group of base stations and cells served by at least some of a second group of base stations; using the paging control node to send a paging message to at least one of the control nodes which controls base stations serving cells in the multicell area; and upon receiving a paging response message from the mobile station, initiating at the paging control node a request to move handling of the connection between the core network and a mobile station to another control node.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein after the core network moves control of the connection with the mobile station, the control nodes newly handling the connection sends the paging response message to the core network.

43. A radio access network portion of a telecommunications network, the radio access network being connecting to a core network and serving a mobile station, the radio access network portion comprising: plural base stations serving respective plural cells; a first radio network control node for controlling a first group of the plural base stations; a second radio network control node for controlling a second group of the plural base stations; wherein a first multicell area includes cells served by at least some of the first group of base stations and cells served by at least some of the second group of base stations; wherein a second multicell area includes cells served by the second group of base stations; wherein, to page the mobile station in the multicell area, the first radio network control node issues a paging message including a temporary mobile station identifier TMSI (1) to those base stations in the first group belonging to the multicell area and (2) to the second radio network control node; and wherein, the second radio network control node assigns to each of the plural multicell areas a multicell area layer parameter, and wherein the multicell area layer parameter is transmitted with the paging message to the cells on the list.']