A base station communicates with a plurality of mobile stations over a cellular network. In one embodiment, the base station includes a transceiver configured to receive inbound information from the mobile station and transmit outbound information to the mobile station. The transceiver equalizes and decodes the inbound information and encodes the outbound information. The transceiver is coupled to a data bus for communicating the inbound and outbound information with the other elements in the base station. The transceiver is also coupled to a control bus. A trunk module is coupled to the data bus and to a mobile services center. The trunk module communicates inbound and outbound information with the mobile services center. The trunk module is also coupled to the control bus. Finally, a central processor is coupled to the control bus to control the transceiver and the trunk module. A preferred protocol is Global Systems for Mobile Communication (GSM).