ETSI TS 148 008 specifies the layer 3 procedures used on the Base Station System (BSS) to Mobile-services Switching Centre (MSC) interface for control of GSM services.

For the purposes of call control and mobility management, messages are not interpreted at the Base Station System (BSS) which acts as a relay function. These messages and procedures are documented in 3GPP TS 24.008, the only relevant issues covering these messages in the present document are those concerned with error conditions at the interface, and the headers that are required for the correct addressing of the messages. This is specified in more detail in 3GPP TS 48.002.

The functional split between MSC and BSS is defined in 3GPP TS 48.002 and states that the BSS is responsible for local radio resource allocation and in order to support this the required procedures between BSS and MSC are defined in detail in the present document.

3GPP TS 48.002 also states that the BSS is responsible for the scheduling of all CCCH/BCCH messages and therefore some procedures for providing the BSS with the necessary information to be passed on these channels for individual calls (i.e. paging) are defined in the present document, but the scheduling is not discussed.

This interface and consequently these layer 3 procedures are designed to support BSSs providing one or more cells.