The CBS service is analogous to the Teletex service offered on television, in that like Teletex, it permits a number of unacknowledged general CBS messages to be broadcast to all receivers within a particular region. CBS messages are broadcast to defined geographical areas known as cell broadcast areas. These areas may comprise of one or more cells, or may comprise the entire PLMN or SNPN. Individual CBS messages will be assigned their own geographical coverage areas by mutual agreement between the information provider and the PLMN or SNPN operator. CBS messages may originate from a number of Cell Broadcast Entities (CBEs), which are connected to the Cell Broadcast Centre. CBS messages are then sent from the CBC to the cells, in accordance with the CBS's coverage requirements. A CBS page comprises of 82 octets, which, using the default character set, equates to 93 characters. Other Data Coding Schemes may also be used, as described in TS 23.038. Up to 15 of these pages may be concatenated to form a CBS messagee. Each page of such CBS message will have the same message identifier (indicating the source of the message), and the same serial number. Using this information, the MS/UE is able to identify and ignore re-broadcasts of already received messages. CBS messages are broadcast cyclically by the cell at a frequency and for a duration agreed with the information provider. The frequency at which CBS messages are repeatedly transmitted will be dependent on the information that they contain; for example, it is likely that dynamic information such as road traffic information, will require more frequent transmission than weather information. The repetition period will also be affected by the desire for CBS messages to be received by high speed mobiles which rapidly traverse cells.Reception of CBS messages for an MS/UE is not a requirement if it is connected in the CS domain. It should be possible for an MS/UE to receive messages if it is connected in the PS domain and no data is currently transmitted.

CS-Domain	CS-Connected	CS-Idle	CS-Idle
PS-Domain	-	PS-Idle	PS-Connected
Reception of CBS Message	Not possible	Possible	Depends on RRC mode

GSM only [CBS messages may be broadcast on two different cell broadcast channels, which are characterized by different QoS. A MS is always able to read the basic channel (see TS 45.002). The reading of the extended channel may collide with other tasks of the MS. Therefore the probability of receiving a CBS message on the extended channel is smaller than on the basic channel. The reading of the extended channel for MSs is optional. The scheduling on the channels will be done independently]. To permit mobiles to selectively display only those CBS messages required by the MS/UE user, CBS messages are assigned a message class which categorises the type of information that they contain and the language (Data Coding Scheme) in which the CBS message has been compiled. Through the use of appropriate MMI, the user is then able to ignore message types that he does not wish to receive, e.g. advertising information or messages in an unfamiliar language. A network may be able to remotely activate mobile terminals in order to enable them to receive CBS messages, according to regulatory requirements (see TS 25.331). PWS provides a service that allows the network to distribute warning messages on behalf of public authority. PWS enables the distribution of ETWS, CMAS (aka WEA), KPAS and EU-Alert warning messages in GSM, UMTS, E-UTRAN, and NG-RAN. Some of the PWS warning message distribution mechanisms are access technology specific, but some CBS procedures and related message structures are common for GSM and UMTS, and some CBS procedures and related message structures are common for E-UTRAN and NG-RAN. The language-independent content mapped to an event or a disaster can be included in a warning message that is transparently passed from CBC to UEs. UEs with user interface which support the ePWS language-independent content functionality can display the entire warning message that they receive. UEs with no user interface which support the ePWS disaster characteristics functionality can derive the characteristics of a disaster from the message identifier of a received warning message.