HLR & MNP

Home Location Register HLR

Home Location Register (HLR) is a database that contains data regarding authorized subscribers using a global system for mobile communication (GSM) core network.

The home location register stores information International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), the phone number associated with the subscriber (the MSISDN), their account status, and their last known location.

What Are Its Features?

  • HLRs identify and authenticate users, and manage roaming situations involving other networks in real-time. Its database consists of all of its users’ context and status information.
  • The HLR is used to control what kinds of calls each user is allowed to make and how they are handled. The HLR can also control access to other services such as data.
  • The HLR also tracks individual devices, and can be used to blacklist phones that have been reported stolen.
  • The HLR is key to any wireless carrier's network, so an outage or problem with the HLR typically causes an effective outage or other major problems for a mobile network.
  • Larger carriers often have multiple HLRs, in which case each subscriber "belongs" to only one HLR.
  • It has an edge over static mobile number portability queries (MNP Lookups) as the information HLR provides is obtained live.