Method for allocating time to a mobile station

The invention relates to mobile communication systems, more specifically to the timing of different functions of a mobile station. By means of the method according to the invention a mobile station (10) can request (100) idle time from a network (20) e.g. for measuring the strengths of signals from base stations. Having received the request the network checks (110) whether suitable idle time is coming up and if not, allocates (120) idle time according to the request by the mobile station. Finally, the network informs (130) the mobile station about when and how much the mobile station has measurement time available.