Telecommunications system and a method of operating the system

摘要

A telecommunications system, such as a cellular telephone system, comprises at least one primary station ( 12 ) and a plurality of secondary stations ( 14 ) which are able to communicate with each other in accordance with any suitable protocol embedded as software in the respective stations. Software configuration or reconfiguration in the secondary stations is effected over the air using a transmitter other than the primary station(s). Such a transmitter may comprise a broadcast transmitter ( 16 ) having spare capacity which can be used for purposes other than broadcasting.