A group call server supplies communications terminals of a certain type with an indication of call type, and optionally other information, for group calls so as to distinguish such calls from other types of calls. The group call server in charge of the group call may selectively augment the calling party number field of the outgoing paging message with one or more indicator flags when the targeted communications terminal is adapted to receive and act upon such information. The indicator flags indicate one or more characteristics of the group call, such as call type, call subtype, or priority level. One flag may indicate priority level and another may indicate the call subtype of the group call. The communications terminals receiving the augmented paging message will base their response, such as to auto-answer or not, on the group call characteristics indicated in the paging message. The group call server may rely on already built-in flexibility in existing signaling and air interface protocols so that the method disclosed herein may be implemented without the need to change the air interface or the BMI.