Abstract: Improved jitter performance is realized in a desynchronizer for obtaining an asynchronous signal, e.g., a CEPT-4 signal, from a received synchronous signal, e.g., a SDH STM-1 signal. The improved jitter performance results from employing a unique gap generator which causes gaps in a received data signal to be spread regularly in time, and allows for almost continuous control by numerical techniques of the phase of a smooth output clock being generated. Phase control is obtained by employing a filtered version of the difference between the actual number of data bits in the received digital signal and the expected nominal number.