Abstract: In order to mitigate problems caused by total or partial failure of a number of sectorised radio channel unit transceivers (RCU) in a base station of a particular cell (16) of a radio communications system, base stations (26, 32) in adjacent cells (14, 20) increase the power transmitted from RCUs controlling sectors adjacent to that particular cell 16, thereby filling the gap in coverage left by the failure of that cell (16).

Abstract: This invention relates to apparatus and a method for provision of diversity in reception in a communications system such as the GSM cellular radio system. A received call of low quality is received through a first of two antennas (15, 16) and through first of a plurality of receivers (10-14). A spare receiver that is not required for receipt of a call is identified and the spare receiver is switched to receive the call through the second antenna. The spare receiver is tuned to the frequency of the call of low quality and the calls are diversity combined through the first receiver and the spare receiver.